The above recipe for making a DADA poem was inspired by poet and essayist Tristan Tzara, who was one of the masterminds of DADA movement in Paris and an author of Dadaists Manifesto.

Relatively short, it lasted less then a decade, Dada hugely influenced a lot of following art movements such as Surrealism, Pop Art, Conceptual Art and Fluxus. It was an inspiration to many famous modern artists and a precursor to the "Happenings". In fact, so called "ready-mades" that are heavily used now by many contemporary artists, were first used by an icon of Dada, Marcel Duchamp. His "Fountain" (urinal signed R. Mutt) made quite a stir in the art world and society when Duchamp tried to display it at the first exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists at the Grand Central Palace in April 1917. Of course it was rejected, which only made Dadaists even more rebellious.

Born in Zurich in 1916 due to the reaction of artists to the horrors of World War I and rapid industrial development, Dadaism became truly international movement spreading among countries and continents. The "Dada" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art covers artists from Zurich, Paris, Cologne, Berlin, Hanover and New York. Even though artists in these locations had different approach to their art expression, they all were rebels, "nihilists", revolutionaries of  art scene at that time. Neutral to war Zurich and New York along with "scandalous" Paris represented by Hans Arp, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Francis Picabia, Man Ray and others, tried to shake not only artistic methods but world itself by rejecting all standards of art common at that time.

They declared that too much industrialization and thinking led people to war and chaos. So they wanted to take "thinking" out of their works and therefore make human intentions irrelevant to the art. One of the examples is a recipe for a dadaists poem above. Another one is represented by works of Hans Arp, who was famous for cutting colored paper in totally random way and then dropping all the pieces on a canvas, so they lay there in absolutely no particular order, guided only by gravity and maybe air movement. Then, he would glue these pieces at the places where they landed. Later on, when Dada movement was on the way to it's funeral, most of these artists rejected the idea of "pure chance" in art and instead replaced "conscious" thinking by "unconscious" (dreams, nightmares, hypnoses and Freud).This movement became known to us as Surrealism. Another famous artist who was using similar "chance" approach many years later was Jackson Pollock, who instead of dropping paper cuts, was randomly dripping paint on his canvases.

Besides mentioned "Fountain", there is another famous work by Duchamp displayed in MoMA exhibition. It's called "L.H.O.O.Q." and more familiar to us as Mona Lisa with beard and mustache. I had a poster with it in my cubicle at work a few years ago and it was always "a conversation piece". Which only proves that even now, many years later, when nothing surprises people about art, Duchamp still manages to create controversy with his work. There are also "Bicycle Wheel"(a wheel mounted on a stool),"Rotary Demispher"(Optical Illusion), Fresh Widow (transformed "French Window", another illusion), few other ready-mades, photos and perfume bottle with Rose Sélavy( Duchamp's female alter-ego!).
I always was a big fan of Duchamp's work. He teased and shocked public, made jokes and puns but all his works had a message either in the way he presented the work or what he presented in the work itself. He was never dull. Even though he crashed rules of art perception and smashed stereotypes of art definition, he was "available" to the average viewer  by using common objects in his work. I always want to know the story of his pieces, because they always have stories. Curators of MoMA satisfied my curiosity by placing detailed notes next to many objects.

Man Ray - dadaist and later surrealist, shares New York DADA hall with Duchamp. Man Ray always wanted to be an artist, but became famous because of his photography and mini films. I've seen his photographs in many surrealists’ exhibitions and was quite happy to see his paintings and sculptures in Dada exhibitions for the first time. His films and photography are also there and in his movies we can see one more time message of "random". Disorganized images, but you are still urged to try and find a story behind them.
The MoMA exhibition is grand by volume of paintings and information that it carries. It took me 3 times to cover most of halls. I suggest people not to try to digest all in one single visit unless you just want to glance over and get a general idea. I would also recommend to bring your children age 7 and up with you. I've noticed that children respond much better to "unconventional" and abstract art than adults. My 8-year old son loves MoMA if I don't try to "educate" him for more than 30 minutes.  DADA exhibition has a wide range of art that could interest children - sculptures with optical illusions, puppets, paintings of German Dadaists that resemble cartoons and of course there is plenty to giggle about, including twice mentioned "Fountain" and a sculpture by Man Ray composed of wooden hangers.

All in all I loved this exhibition. It was shown in Washington and Paris before it came to New York. It's very comprehensive, informative and well organized. And if you do not have time to see it completely, you can always buy a Dada catalog that supports this exhibition. I will probably do it when it goes on sale :)