26 April 2009

Dada Cinema

" I give chance a chance as I do in painting, as I do in film. That was the main credo of Dada: the discovery of chance as a possibility of expression. [...] suddenly found that everything was permitted. You could go anywhere with any material. You should not hold back. Your whole unconscious, your whole belief should sputter out, should come out. It was really trying to find a new form of expression".
- Hans Richter, Camera Three, 1975

Dada was a movement that was EVERYWHERE!! Artists had left the paints and brushes for a while and they tried to experiment with the new rising medium, Cinema. Below are three of my favorite Dada films, which they have always been strongly influential in my work.

Le Retour A La Raison (1923) by Man Ray



Filmstudie (1926) by Hans Richter



Emak Bakia (1926) by Man Ray





Cinema is no longer reflexive it has no story to tell:
it becomes the mere agent os successive or simultaneous contrasts.

1 comment:

Re:Voir Video said...

That Camera Three portrait of Hans Richter, as well as all the Dada films are available on DVD from Re:Voir. Free clips and more info here: http://www.re-voir.com/html/dada.htm