Editing Dada (section)

===Berlin===
[[File:An Anna Blume.jpg|thumb|Cover of ''Anna Blume, Dichtungen'', 1919]]

"Berlin was a city of tightened stomachers, of mounting, thundering hunger, where hidden rage was transformed into a boundless money lust, and men's minds were concentrating more and more on questions of naked existence... Fear was in everybody's bones" – Richard Hülsenbeck

[[Raoul Hausmann]], who helped establish Dada in Berlin, published his [[art manifesto|manifesto]] ''Synthethic Cino of Painting'' in 1918 where he attacked Expressionism and the art critics who promoted it. Dada is envisioned in contrast to art forms, such as Expressionism, that appeal to viewers' emotional states: "the exploitation of so-called echoes of the soul". In Hausmann's conception of Dada, new techniques of creating art would open doors to explore new artistic impulses. Fragmented use of real world stimuli allowed an expression of reality that was radically different from other forms of art:{{sfn|Elger|2004|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0ES7-5Hp7gC&pg=PA35 35]}}
{{blockquote|quote=A child's discarded doll or a brightly colored rag are more necessary expressions than those of some ass who seeks to immortalize himself in oils in finite parlors.|source=Raoul Hausmann}}

The groups in Germany were not as strongly [[anti-art]] as other groups. Their activity and art were more political and social, with corrosive [[art manifesto|manifestos]] and propaganda, satire, public demonstrations and overt political activities. The intensely political and war-torn environment of Berlin had a dramatic impact on the ideas of Berlin Dadaists. Conversely, New York's geographic distance from the war spawned its more theoretically driven, less political nature.<ref>{{Cite book|title = New York Dada|last = Naumann|first = Francis M.|publisher = Abrams|year = 1994|isbn = 0810936763|location = New York}}</ref> According to [[Hans Richter (artist)|Hans Richter]], a Dadaist who was in Berlin yet "aloof from active participation in Berlin Dada", several distinguishing characteristics of the Dada movement there included: "its political element and its technical discoveries in painting and literature"; "inexhaustible energy"; "mental freedom which included the abolition of everything"; and "members intoxicated with their own power in a way that had no relation to the real world", who would "turn their rebelliousness even against each other".<ref>{{cite book|first =Hans |last =Richter|title =Dada: Art and Anti-Art|location = London|publisher = Thames & Hudson |date =1978 |page = 122|isbn = 9780810920033}}</ref>

In February 1918, while the Great War was approaching its climax, Huelsenbeck gave his first Dada speech in Berlin, and he produced a Dada manifesto later in the year. Following the [[October Revolution]] in [[Russian Empire|Russia]], by then out of the war, [[Hannah Höch]] and [[George Grosz]] used Dada to express communist sympathies. Grosz, together with [[John Heartfield]], Höch and Hausmann developed the [[wikt:technique|technique]] of [[photomontage]] during this period. [[Johannes Baader]], the uninhibited Oberdada, was the "crowbar" of the Berlin movement's [[direct action]] according to [[Hans Richter (artist)|Hans Richter]] and is credited with creating the first giant collages, according to [[Raoul Hausmann]].

After the war, the artists published a series of short-lived political magazines and held the [[First International Dada Fair]], 'the greatest project yet conceived by the Berlin Dadaists', in the summer of 1920.<ref name="Dada, Dickermann p443">{{cite book|title =Dada|last = Dickermann|first = leah|publisher = National Gallery of Art|location = Washington|date =2005 |page =443|isbn =9781933045207}}</ref> As well as work by the main members of Berlin Dada (Grosz, [[Raoul Hausmann]], [[Hannah Höch]], [[Johannes Baader]], Huelsenbeck and Heartfield), the exhibition also included the work of [[Otto Dix]], [[Francis Picabia]], Jean Arp, [[Max Ernst]], [[Rudolf Schlichter]], [[Johannes Theodor Baargeld|Johannes Baargeld]] and others.<ref name="Dada, Dickermann p443"/> In all, over 200 works were exhibited, surrounded by incendiary slogans, some of which also ended up written on the walls of the Nazi's ''[[Entartete Kunst]]'' exhibition in 1937. Despite high ticket prices, the exhibition lost money, with only one recorded sale.<ref>Dada, Dickermann, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2006 p99</ref>

The Berlin group published periodicals such as ''Club Dada'', ''Der Dada'', ''[[Jedermann sein eigner Fussball|Everyman His Own Football]]'', and ''Dada Almanach''. They also established a political party, the [[Central Council of Dada for the World Revolution]].