"Kurt Schwitters and Dada Resistance"

 Last week I attended the "Four L.A.S.E.R. talks: Regenerative Medicine, Dada, Vermeer, More than Human Time" on Zoom. While all four talks were very exciting and enjoyable to listen to, I am going to focus on Thomas Haakenson's talk about Kurt Schwitters and the Dada Resistance. Haakenson did a great job following up on Ravi Majeti's talk on Regenerative Medicine and really pulled me in as he spoke about this artist and the legacy he left behind as the historical art myth. 

(The Art Story)

Haakenson spoke about Schwitters work titled Merzbau. This piece really intrigued me, it was a piece Schwitters worked on from 1923 to 1937 and was actually both his studio and the art itself. It has been called an art-historical myth as it was destroyed by an Allied bombing raid and was never seen again(Thomas). There were a total of eight rooms in this piece but the photographs of it come from just the main room(Orchard). 

(Redemann)

I really enjoyed learning about this unique art form and the artist himself. Kurt Schwitters was known for his collages, use of unique materials, music, and poems(“Kurt Schwitters”). The most fascinating of his work however is the immersive experience of Merzbau. This piece has been recreated at the Sprengel Museum and I would love to visit someday. They claim it cannot be fully accurate but I would love to understand the 3-dimensional space that he worked in and gain an appreciation for the geometry and artwork(Thomas). 

(Sprengel Museum Hannover)

Overall, I greatly enjoyed watching the four L.A.S.E.R. talks and gaining such an array of knowledge from very accomplished speakers. It was such an experience to go from learning about finding ways to cure cancer to a very unique art form, it really felt like a reflection of this course. This event will help me explore all forms of art and the broad types of experience they can bring to the viewer. I highly recommend joining one of these events, and I hope to join more in the future. 

Works Cited

“Kurt Schwitters.” The Art Story, The Art Story, 2013, www.theartstory.org/artist/schwitters-kurt/. Accessed 16 May 2023.

Orchard, Karin. “Kurt Schwitters: Reconstructions of the Merzbau – Tate Papers | Tate.” Tate, 2022, www.tate.org.uk/research/tate-papers/08/kurt-schwitters-reconstructions-of-the-merzbau. Accessed 16 May 2023.

Redemann, Wilhelm. “Kurt Schwitters Merzbau.” Tate, 2007, www.tate.org.uk/research/tate-papers/08/kurt-schwitters-reconstructions-of-the-merzbau. Accessed 16 May 2023.

Sprengel Museum Hannover. “Kurt Schwitters Merzbau, Reconstruction by Peter Bissegger.” Tate, www.tate.org.uk/research/tate-papers/08/kurt-schwitters-reconstructions-of-the-merzbau. Accessed 16 May 2023.

The Art Story. “Kurt Schwitters Portrait.” The Art Story Contributers, 5 Aug. 2006, www.theartstory.org/artist/schwitters-kurt/. Accessed 16 May 2023.

Thomas, Elisabeth. “MoMA | in Search of Lost Art: Kurt Schwitters’s Merzbau.” Moma.org, MoMA, 2016, www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/07/09/in-search-of-lost-art-kurt-schwitterss-merzbau/. Accessed 16 May 2023.