Kurt Schwitters: Merz (2016) – Norman Rosenthal interviews Damien Hirst

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BATTLE CRY WITH VERVE
Merz 7 features the aggravation of the relationship between Dada and Merz through the
introduction of an accent. This allows Schwitters to untangle the ambivalence of Dada.
At the beginning of the text dada complet 2, Schwitters quotes Merz 4, saying that the consequent
and pure Dadaism is absolute non-art, abstract non-art or abstract anti-art, to be precise. The
notion of abstraction is introduced, and explored, towards the end of dada complet 2. It is through
abstraction, through abstract anti-art that Dada achieves a prophetic dimension of the eternal, of
the future and the transhistorical, a dimension that Schwitters had already attributed to i. 51
A critic, who called Dada a not to be underestimated danger, is the trigger for Schwitters’
genius move. He replied that Dadá made a diagnosis and was a remedy for our heavily ill
generation that should not be underestimated. 52 Schwitters uses Dadá with an accent, which
he had already allegedly introduced on December 30, 1923. The accent now allows for three
possibilities of writing Dada and, accordingly, three meanings that may be attributed to it. There
is now dáda, dada or dadá. Schwitters asks the reader to vary the pronunciation of the three
versions: dáda, dada, dadá. Dáda, with the emphasis on the first syllable, he associates with the
intonation common to Saxony and finds it trivial, almost reminiscent of Swiss German, peasant
and rude, as if a men’s club would pronounce dáda. By contrast, dadá, with emphasis on the
second syllable, sounds French, colored with verve and cosmopolitan urbanism, according to
Schwitters. It rather sounds like a question that remains open and suggests that there is more,
it is playful, saucy and witty. While dáda only encourages a short, blunt nod and slumps down
in dull provincial affirmation, dadá lifts up, making the pointer finger and the eyebrows rise,
making one’s spirit bright and awake. Dada finally, sounds indifferent to Schwitters, it sounds
like somebody who doesn’t know what they want. It is very monotonous, almost automatic,
lacking identification or attitude towards the sound of the word. By using dada, the critics display
the same indifference towards Dada as they do towards art. As a proof for how sound is linked
to meaning, Schwitters talks about the dumb masses of the audience they had encountered in
the Netherlands who had enthusiastically cried dáda, dáda, dáda. The audience is confronted
with the moral gravity of our time and now explodes with laughter, it drunkenly-clumsily snorts
with laughter. On the other hand, the dynamic dadá is the battle cry of the Dadaists. The first
Dadaists in Zurich, inspired by francophone influence, had said dadá as well. Dadá is core
Dadá. It is this Dadá that blends with i and is complementary to Merz. Dadá is the abstract antiart.
Schwitters returns to some phrases from Merz 1 and rewrites them: “Our time is called dáda,
The consequence of DADA: MERZ · by Adrian Notz
51
“dada complet 2”, MERZ 7, vol. 2, no. 7, 1924, p. 66
52
Ibid., p. 66