Dada Birthday Bash – When Zürich Meets New York

So the Dada movement threw itself an early birthday party - two years before the centennial in 2016. Because, why would a centennial need to be at exactly 100 years? That would make too much sense, which in turn would defeat the whole point of Dadaism!

In the spirit of the movement, no dress code was defined, and the celebrations were entirely free of charge.

Among the guests were several of Dada's close family members, as well as dozens of overseas friends and hundreds of lucky New Yorkers who got their hands on one of the limited admission tickets.

From the mother who gave birth to Dada (= the city of Zürich) to the Bohemian twin of Cabaret Voltaire (= The Box) and Dada's Aunt who was responsible for Dada's upbringing (= New York City)... Heck, even Dada's distance Uncle Dieter Meier made an appearance!

Awesome performance by Dieter Meier! Full house at le poisson rouge #zhny pic.twitter.com/cYwQ6eQHfZ

— Jennifer Charlton (@Jen_Charlton) May 19, 2014

The Dada birthday reception, codenamed "Dada Bomb", took place at the White Box, a performance space in Little Italy.

Theater production company Giants Are Small were put in charge of mesmerizing the guests (which they did):

Lady Screen Face, a.k.a. Swiss performance artist Clarina Bezzola, wandered about socializing with the guests...

The birthday theme was #privacyisdead. But the more than 25 performances, seminars and workshops had no touch of a funeral! Quite the opposite was true, in fact...

But sadly, privacy died once and for all as dozens of selfies were spread around the internets that night...

Culinary delights were floating in the air, from Swiss cheese to sausages!

The all-seeing EYE was being controlled by the security guard...

Or *was* it?!?

Longtime Big Apple resident Max Frisch, a world-renowned Swiss author, once coined the phrase: "New York doesn't need Dada. New York is Dada." We second that!

Part of Dada on Tour is a tent screening classics from Dada's life:

Party favors were provided by PopKarma, makers of "good" popcorn!

After our week-long stay as part of the Zürich Meets New York festival, we are looking at each other, nodding our heads in full satisfaction...

Certainly average sized for US standards, but yet gigantic (and sometimes mesmerizing) for these Swiss visitors, Manhattan seemed as tightly packed as our suitcases full of souvenirs!

Thank you, Ambassador Barras, for the Zürich Meets New York Festival!

Another big thanks goes out to the birthday party planners, the crew of the Swiss Consulate General of New York! It is no small art to curate an event program which sublimely exuded Dada throughout the week (and only once truly exclaimed it during said bombastic kick-off event, Dada Bomb). It was refreshing to experience Zürich in New York City, and vice versa.

And many thanks to our partners who helped to make this trip possible:

But wait! Where might Dada on Tour be headed next?!?