Offering
new critical approaches to Dada as quintessential part of the
Avant-Garde, Dada and Existentialism: the Authenticity of Ambiguity reassesses
the movement as a form of (proto-) Existentialist philosophy. Dada is
often dismissed as an anti-art movement with a merely destructive theoretical
impetus. French Existentialism is often condemned for its perceived quietist
implications. However, closer analysis reveals a preoccupation with philosophy
in the former and with art in the latter. Moreover, neither was nonsensical or
meaningless; both reveal a rich individualist ethics aimed at the amelioration
of the individual and society. 

The first major comparative study of Dada and
Existentialism, this text contributes new perspectives on Dada as movement,
historical legacy, and field of study. Analysing Dada works through
Existentialist literature across the themes of choice, alienation,
responsibility, freedom and truth, the text posits that Dada and Existentialism
both advocate the creation of a self that aims for authenticity through
ambiguity.