Back to All NewsNew Yorker previews Guy Livingston's "Dada at the Movies"
By Steve Smith
Dada—an artistic movement that responded to the horrors of the First World War with irrationality, impulsiveness, and nonsense—had arguably run its course by July 8, 1923, the day that a Parisian Dadaist event, built around the revival of a notorious Tristan Tzara play, sparked a riot. Almost a century later, and amid an increasingly tumultuous world order, the same works may provoke a gentler response. On Oct. 17, the skillful pianist Guy Livingston will present “Dada at the Movies,” an audacious new multimedia program, which argues for Dada’s foresight and continued relevance. At Baruch Performing Arts Center, Livingston will mix elements of the 1923 event—including compositions by Satie, Milhaud, and George Antheil (whose music is his specialty) and films by Hans Richter and Man Ray—with historical texts and period-inspired costumes.