Dada, Art, Provocation is the title of a lecture/action given by Albert Ràfols-Casamada on 28 February 1973 at EINA. Devoted to the different artistic groups and capital cities of the Dada movement, the lecture became a unique action.
The windows at the Casa Manuel Dolcet invited participants with a hand-painted advertisement using whiting, evoking the offers of dishes and drinks painted on bar windows in those days.
Inside the building, an entrance filled with washing hanging out to dry simulating an apartment block roof with white sheets, dream catchers, awaited the participants.
Before it started, some voices in V/O recited phonetic poems by Hugo Ball, in an homage to Zurich's Cabaret Voltaire.
Continuing with their journey, the participants found a sculpture made from a pile of folded chairs.
The moment the lecture started, Albert Ràfols-Casamada dictated the lesson in a recording made beforehand on a tape recorder while he drew, in silence, a graphic diagram of the contents narrated.
The participant in the lecture stopped the tape recorded and went. It became silent. The graphic was complete.
His intervention immediately became a Dadaist work, the result of which was the mural shown below.
The property of the EINA Foundation, the work has been displayed at various venues, including the MACBA and the Montserrat Museum. It can now be seen at the EINA main site at the Palau dels Marquesos de Sentmenat, in the main entrance, next to the Assembly Room.
Technical data
- Action: Albert Ràfols-Casamada
- Collaborators: Maria Girona i Xavier Olivé
- Place: AEINA Classroom (Casa Manuel Dolcet)
- Date: 28 February 1973 at 7.30 pm
Text by: Xavier Olivé and Rubén Alcaraz