2/27/13: No Thoughts
The Spirit of Our
Time, Raoul Hausmann
This
piece reflects much of the core principles of the Dadaism movement in the early
20th century. One of the chief and foremost figures of the Dadasoph
group, Hausmann (the artist) had a strong hand in the ideas and politics put
forth by the group. The Dadaists had
very negative feelings about World War I and the violence they saw, and chose
to rebel against it, which was reflected in works such as the one above. Here we have a wooden mannequin, to which has
been attached: A tape measurer, wooden ruler, tin cup, spectacle case, labels,
and a piece of metal. These items were
attached specifically to a mannequin to suggest that we as people are nothing
more than mindless mannequins that become only the things that have been fixed
to us. Hausmann even went so far as to
say that the average German “has no
more capabilities than those which chance has glued on the outside of his
skull; his brain remains empty.” Many of
his works were seen as radical reversals of a theory put forth by George Wilhem
Freidrich Hegel, which was “Everything is mind.” By creating this work, Hausmann is saying
there is no mind; only a receptive head.
More on the work:
A study on
Hausmann as a whole:
No comments:
Post a Comment