Definition – “a public declaration of intentions, opinions, objectives, or motives, as one issued by a government, sovereign, or organization”

“We the founders of the Dada movement try to give time its own reflection in the mirror”

Dadist Artists preparing to write a manifesto in Paris 1921, Artist Incude Julius Evola and Tristan Tzara

Throughout the history of civilization, human beings have always felt a need to establish social groups and communities. In these groups the has always been official or unofficial rules (manifesto’s) which unify members of the group together. This may be through kinship (family), social status, interests, appearance, beliefs, objectives and goals. Morally right or wrong, certain boundaries, conditions and limitations for members to join groups and establish their memberships has been an integral means of developing solidarity and honor; primitively between different communities and tribes; and more recently between religious groups, political organisations, societies, governments and developing nations.

In the early 19th Century as artists began to become more politically and philosophically aware, they began to establish certain artistic movements which like minded artists would join. As a means of establishing these groups into serious, official organisations, artists subsequently began developing a certain structure for their new found movements. The boundaries to this structure was established through a collection of written documents, which outlined the main rules and objectives which the artists wishing to join the organisation must follow. These documents were known as Manifesto’s, and all the artists in the organisation were required to follow the rules strictly. For example, if the organisation demanded that no artist should use colour in their paintings, then the artists would be unable to do so.

However, in contrast to the prior example, Manifesto’s are more concerned in the philosophical and political direction of the art, not necessarily limited purely to aesthetic value. Artistic movements and the development of Manifesto’s began to become prevalent in the mid 19th to early 20th Century as a reactionary occurrence to the vast sways of political, economic and social changes that occurred, such as the political revolutions of France (1846) and Russia (1917), the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the Americas, as well as World War One (1914-1918). The changing trends of society, especially during the collapse of the great European Empires in these periods led people to question many previously suppressed issues of the last 1000 years, such as religion, conformity, class and political leadership. Art itself at the beginning of the 20th Century was very much a reflection of the ‘old world’, which prized formalism, objectivity and a straight-forward approach to the definition of art. These new sways of revolutionary and to some extent reactionary artistic movements such as the Dadaist Movement (1916) and Cubism (1881), sought to challenge these ideas in a visual format easily accessible to public attention. Through the use of Manifesto’s these movements were able to present the basis of their objectives in a credited, documented manner.

There are usually a guidance of 10-15 rules as a summary of the Manifesto – for example, these were the main rules summarized in the Dadaist Movement Manifesto of 1915

www.youtube.com/watch?v=o58Yk-Qri4M

Psychology Psychology hee hee

Science Science Science

Long live France

We are not naive

We are successive

We are exclusive

We are not simpletons

and we are perfectly capable of an intelligent discussion.

Be we, DADA, don’t agree with them, for art isn’t serious, I assure you, and if we reveal the crime so as to show that we are learned denunciators, it’s to please you, dear audience, I assure you, and I adore you.

Here is the link of the 1st and 2nd Dadaist movments – http://www.arthistoryarchive.com

Film was a major artistic direction of the Dadaist movement. During the 1920s, Cinematography had first started to develop as a major form of public entertainment. The earliest artist associated with the Dadist Movement started to see the major advantages of using film as a means of delivery their artistic message. After doing a bit of research, I came across one of the earliest Dadaist films from 1928. I was impressed by the quality of film and editing considering that the video was created very early on in the history of film technology. The philosophies of the Dadaist movement are clearly apparent through this video, and it is very interesting to see an earky account of the movement, before  it had really taken off as a major art movement.

I like how there seems to be no direction or meaning towards any theme in particular. Almost as if the subconscious mind of the film maker has played an unfiltered part, not allowing the constraints of the conscious mind to affect the outcome of the piece. The lack of narrative progression or story line, immediately draws me to the concept of subversion through the sense of structural disorder that is established. The lack of structural process contrasts greatly against themes of order and efficiently, which in context hints at the idea that a protest of this theme relates to war and military, a classic symbolization of structure and conformity. Considering that the film was made in 1928, this may therefore be a subtle hint of the film-makers protest towards the events of WWI (1914-1918). The lack of clear intent is in itself a theme of the Dadaist movement. The lack of meaning behind the film relates to the Dadaist concept that art has no direct meaning or relevance in society.

Comedy of this piece is created from the sense of subversion and confusion established by the absurdity of the performance. The filmmaker uses the comical technique known as farce, through the use of visual effects to create crude characterizations, such as the man’s loose head turning; and improbable, surreal situations; such as the flying hats. Farce works in the genre of silent film because the absence of verbal communication allows for communication and expression to be greatly exaggerated in order to make up for the silence. In the context of comedy, this is known a physical comedy. These visual effects help to add an already established sense of chaos and disorder.Therefore the confusion of such effects is what enhances the Dadaist principles of the video.

Dynamo is an English magician and stunt performer known for his exceptionally surreal and visually outstanding illiusions. Dynamo was born in Bradford, England in 1982 as Steven Frayne. Dynamo started learning magic at the age of 10 from his Grandad, a former Navy Marine and amateur magician. Dynamo began his career performing street magic in the streets of Bradford and soon came to prominence through the Prince of Wales Young Talent Scheme. Since then Dynamo has exploded into worldwide fame with millions of YouTube views of his performances, and an extremely successful, award winning UK Television series ‘Dynamo: Magician Impossible’. He is perhaps most famous however for his stunt in 2012 when he appeared to be walking unaided across the river Thames.

The type of artistic movement that Dynamo follows is surrealism. Surrealism relates to creating artwork/performance that displays something which appears to be illogical and supernatural, making the viewer perceive the event outside of their own notion of reality. Dynamo’s performances take this concept to the extreme, making events which are totally impossible and inconceivable appear realistic and viewable to an audience. Dynamo magic tricks are guarded totally by secrecy. This is a deliberate effort that Dynamo makes to keep the viewer/audience guessing exactly how he is able to pull of his remarkable illusions, and this also protects the surrealism of his magic, as the audience is allowed to fully experience to wonder out the performer, without the tools or knowledge to translate what is happeninginto something less then beautiful and miraculous. The surrealism that Dynamo creates with his magic forces the viewer to question what is really possible, and challenges them to world outside of their own concious perception. His magic is also a protest against the negative, limitating nature of society. As Dynamo says himself, “the most rewarding thing about what I do is to see the look in a person’s eyes and believe, even for a second, the that anything is possible”

Dynamo has stated himself that the biggest motivation and reward that gets from his work is the reaction of surprise, wonder and astonishment from members of the public after they have witnessed a performance. It is through the response of an audience that  makes his work more surreal, as the reaction is a reflection of the nature of the performance. This reaction is impossible to predict as no one quite knows how to respond to witnessing something outside  of possibility, and it is very entertaining to see people struggle to conceive what they have seen. An example of this is when Dynamo accurately predicted all of the results of the Euro 2012 two weeks in advance. The reaction of BBC Radio 1 presenter Scott Mills as he opened the concealed envelope and reaveled the accuracy of Dynamo’s prediction was one of complete shock and to some extent, denial of what he had just witnessed.

Dynamo’s performance style is non-conspicuous which means that he does not like to attract any attention towards himself as an individual and likes the performacne to be the most important aspect of the event. This is why after every performance Dynamo walks away immediately. He is not interested in gaining any credit or personal fame behind his work and instead he remains a fairly modest individual who uses his performances as a means of expressing. Though not quite to the same extent, this is similar to the concept of the French Mime Artist because the performer is de-individualised to give the performance dominance over the actor.

Remy Gillard is a French comedian and prankster who is famous for his many daring, satirical YouTube videos, wherein he pranks and surprises unsuspecting members of the general public. His videos are extremely funny, clever and in many cases simply outrageous. Gillard started to make videos in 1999 as a way to pass the time when he got fired from a shoe shop. Since then Gillard rose to fame and prominence with over 5 million YouTube subscribers, the sixth most subscribed comedian in YouTube’s history. He has been known to complete some very daring and unlikely achievements, for example: emerging form the stands and partaking in the lineup for the French national anthem of a televised volleyball game; dressing up as Mario and driving round France in an electric go-kart; and dressing up as a giant bee, capturing a police officer in a giant net.

The type of performance that Gillard specialises in is subversion. His objective is to test social barriers and boundaries to a great extreme. Gillard is also very daring in his work. He is not afraid to take extreme risks or challenge social taboos in an upfront and direct manner. An example of risk is when he dressed up as a giant bomb and walked around an airport, as a way of challenging the taboo of terrorism. It is an extremely controversial and unusual act, testament to Gillard’s fearless desire to use his performances as a reflection of issues within society. Gillard’s performances are very risky and he has been arrested on many occasions. This is however something that I find remarkable about his work, the fact that nothing is too extreme for him and that he would be prepared to try anything for the sake of his comedy. It is easy to dismiss Gillard’s work as reckless, stupid  and distasteful, however this is most certainly not the case. Behind the pranks and anarchy, there is a much deeper and more serious side to his work. His work is effectively a protest against conformity within society. He is asking his audiences to question what is socially acceptable, because as he argues in his term “C’est en faisant n’importe quoi qu’on devient n’importe qui”, which means “It is by doing anything that we become anyone”. Through this Gillard basically is saying that nothing is impssible and therefore nothing is ‘too far’ in terms of challenging society

The main intention behind Gaillard’s work is to act as recklessly and subversively as possible. Through the unconventional manner of his performances, Gaillard therefore stands out greatly and is able to draw larger responses from the audience or intended subject. For example, he has done a series of videos whereby he dresses up as a clown and often at a random moment with no apparent reason, Gaillard will prank an unsuspecting member of the public by throwing a foam pie in their face. The shocked individual then often runs frantically and angrily towards Gillard, and a sense of chaos arises, almost like as in a cartoon scene. In many cases, it is the public’s reaction like this for example that creates the element of comedy. Gaillard anticipates these reactions beforehand is attempting to provoke the biggest possible type of reaction. This is comical because Gaillard is establishing a juxtaposition of a serious reaction against a trivial matter.

I draw many comparison’s of Remy Gaillard work to that of Tom Pope. Both artists use similar philosophies and influences. An infleunce in particular that both of them use to a great degree is farce, which refers to ‘comedy based satirical elements, punctuated at times with overwrought, frantic action’. Which effectively refers to the fact that both artists use extreme forms of physical comedy and nature to enhance the effectiveness of whatever message they are attempting to convey.