EYE-COVER ART-COVER CORSET-COVER
AUTHORIZATION
NEW YORK-DADA:
You ask for authorization to name
your periodical Dada. But Dada be
longs to everybody. I know excellent
people who have the name Dada. Mr.
Jean Dada; Mr. Gaston de Dada; Fr.
Picabia’s dog is called Zizi de Dada;
in G. Ribemont-Dessaigne’s play, the
pope is likewise named Zizi de Dada.
I could cite dozens of examples. Dada
belongs to everybody. Like the idea
of God or of the tooth-brush. There
are people who are very dada, more
dada; there are dadas everywere all
over and in every individual. Like
God and the toothlbrush (an excellent
invention, by the way).
Dada is a new type; a mixture of
man, naphthaline, sponge, animal
made of ebonite and beefsteak, pre
pared with soap for cleansing the
brain. Good teeth are the making of
the stomach and beautiful teeth are
the making of a charming smile.
Halleluiah of ancient oil and injection
of rubber.
There is nothing abnormal about
my choice of Dada for the name of my
review. In Switzerland I was in the
company of friends and was hunting
the dictionary for a word appropriate
to the sonorities of all languages.
Night was upon us when a green hand
placed its ugliness on the page of
Larousse—pointing very precisely to
Dada—my choice was made. I lit a
cigarette and drank a demitasse.
For Dada was to say nothing and to
lead to no explanation of this offshoot
of relationship which is not a dogma
nor a school, but rather a constellation
of individuals and of free facets.
Dada existed before us (the Holy
Virgin) but one cannot deny its mag
ical power to add to this already ex
isting spirit and impulses of penetra
tion and diversity that characterizes
its present form.
There is nothing more incompre
hensible than Dada.
Nothing more indefinable.
With the best will in the world I
cannot tell you what I think of it.
The journalists who say that Dada
is a pretext are right, but it is a pre
text for something I do not know.
Dada has penetrated into every
hamlet; Dada is the best paying con
cern of the day.
Therefore, Madam, be on your
guard and realize that a really dada
product is a different thing from a
glossy label.
Dada abolishes “nuances.” Nu
ances do not exist in words but only
in some atrophied brains whose cells
are too jammed. Dada is an anti
“nuance” cream. The simple motions
that serve as signs for deaf-mutes are
quite adequate to express the four or
five mysteries we have discovered
within 7 or 8,000 years. Dada offers
all kinds of advantages. Dada will
soon be able to boast of having shown
people that to say “right” instead of
“left” is neither less nor too logical,
that red and valise are the same thing;
that 2765 = 34; that “fool” is a
merit; that yes = no. Strong in
fluences are making themselves felt in
politics, in commerce, in language.
The whole world and what’s in it has
slid to the left along with us. Dada
has inserted its syringe into hot bread,
to speak allegorically into language.
Little by little (large by large) it de
stroys it. Everything collapses with
logic. And we shall see certain liber
ties we constantly take in the sphere of
sentiment, social life, morals, once
more become normal standards. These
liberties no longer will be looked upon
as crime, but as itches.
I will close with a little international
song: Order from the publishing
house “La Sirene” 7 rue Pasquier,
Paris, Dadaglobe, the work of dadas
from all over the world. Tell your
bookseller that this book will soon be
out of print. You will have many
agreeable surprises.
Read Dadaglobe if you have trou
bles. Dadaglobe is in press. Here
are some of its colloborators:
Paul Citroen (Amsterdam); Baader
Daimonides; R. Hausmann; W. Heart-
field; H. Hoech; R. Huelsenbeck; G.
Grosz; Fried Hardy Worm (Berlin);
Clement Pansaers (Bruxelles); Mac
Robber (Calcutta); Jacques Edwards
(Chili); Baargeld, Armada v. Dulge-
dalzen, Max Ernst, F. Haubrich (Col
ogne) ; K. Schwitters (Hannovre);
J. K. Bonset (Leyde); Guillermo de
Torre (Madrid); Gino Cantarelli; E.
Bacchi, A. Fiozzi (Mantoue); Kru-
senitch (Moscou); A. Vagts (Mu
nich) ; W. C. Arensberg, Gabrielle
Buffet, Marcel Duchamp; Adon La
croix; Baroness v. Loringhoven; Man
Ray; Joseph Stella; E. Varese; A.
Stieglitz; M. Hartley; C. Kahler (New
York); Louis Aragon; C. Brancusi;
Andre Breton; M. Buffet; S. Char-
ehoune; J. Crotti; Suzanne Duchamp;
Paul Eluard; Benjamin Peret; Francis
Picabia; G. Ribemont-Dessaignes; J.
Rigaut, Soubeyran; Ph. Soupault,
Tristan Tzara (Paris); Melchior Vis-
cher (Prague); J. Evola (Rome);
Arp; S. Taeuber (Zurich).
The incalculable number of pages
of reproductions and of text is a guar
anty of the success of the book. Ar
ticles of luxury, of prime necessity,
articles indispensable to hygiene and
to the heart, toilet articles of an inti
mate nature.
Such, Madame, do we prepare for
Dadaglobe; for you need look no fur
ther than to the use of articles pre
pared without Dada to account for the
fact that the skin of your heart is
chapped; that the so precious enamel
of your intelligence is cracking; also
for the presence of those tiny wrinkles
still imperceptible but nevertheless
disquieting.
All this and much else in Dada
globe.
Tristan Tzara.