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

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experiment of the Merzarchitektur’s effects. It is also a first step into the direction that leads to
implementing Merz’s task in the world, which is erasing oppositions and distributing emphases.
SPIRITUAL FUNCTIONS OF MAN
With Merz, Kurt Schwitters creates principles and formats that can guide his work and
operations. He applies them to himself and engages them in s serious play. Although these
principles and formats were created by him and for him, they are universal and should be
embraced by every artist, by every individual. Schwitters’ art does not primarily consist of the
works of art themselves, but in the principles he creates and the ideas he puts into the world.
The works of art are a mirror and expression of this art. This is also revealed in Manifest
Proletkunst that Schwitters wrote along with Theo van Doesburg, Hans Arp, Tristan Tzara and
Christoph Sprengemann on March 6, 1923 in The Hague: “Art is a spiritual function of man,
which aims at freeing him from life’s chaos (tragedy)” 62 .
The manifesto aims at the orchestration of art for political ends. It positions art as an
independent, autonomous and resistant system that neither serves the proletariat nor the
bourgeoisie, and is consequently uncoupled from other systems such as politics, economy,
education, media, religion, law, philosophy or science. As proposed later in the foundations of
systems theory, art, as an autonomous system, also has its own rules it is informed by. 63 Art pursues
a goal of its own, a goal that is independent of the classes of men. It disconnects from thought
of class differences and from the political dialectic on the left and the right and aims at setting
free the creative forces in the individual. The goal to achieve is the mature individual, not the
proletarian or the bourgeois. 64
Manifest Proletkunst is a clear rejection of the political appropriation of art and is applicable
to the entire culture, just as Merz is applicable to the entire world. The art that the manifesto’s
authors strive for is strong enough to influence the entirety of culture and is resistant to
influences by social relations. 65 The art that is being manifested and prepared by the authors
is a Gesamtkunstwerk, which is superior to all labels like Dada or Communist Dictatorship. 66
Manifest Proletkunst prepares its secession from Dada, just as Schwitters had predicted in the
first issue of Merz. Supported by some core Dadaists and backed by the understanding of art
proposed in Manifest Proletkunst, Schwitters is able to rise from Dada and declare Merz the
logical continuation of Dada. After the chaos of Dada, Merz is free to re-establish order and
62
“Manifest Proletkunst”, MERZ 2: Nummer i, no. 2, 1923, p. 24
63
Ibid., p. 24
64
Ibid., p. 25
65
Ibid., p. 25
66
Ibid., p. 25