Dadaism - The Art of Nothingness
- Mar 30
- 3 min read
By Stephanie Ma
What is art to you? When someone brings up art, you may think of the greats; Van Gogh's Starry Night, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Johannes Vermeer's The Girl With The Pearl Earring. Perhaps, you have a broader ideal of art. Fashion shows, filmography or even public protests. Either way, it most likely means something to you.
Maybe the stars in the Starry Night represent a light in the world, and you like to get lost in the swirls that dance through the night sky. Perhaps you see films and you celebrate while your favourite character gets their happily ever after, or they resonate with you; moments or characters that you see yourself in. The real question is, does ‘art’ have to have an inherent meaning for it to be considered art? The Oxford Dictionary defines art as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power”, but what about art with no meaning? Art created because it just can be.
The Dadaism movement was created in the early 1900’s in Zurich, Switzerland, since it was neutral ground, as a procession of anti-war sentiment and the rise of nationalism - which was what they thought had started the war. The movement began in 1916 and largely ended around 1924, due to its unstable nature and many of its members moving towards surrealism. Dadaism was made up of a group of people with only one thing in common; their ideals. It was non-artists making non-art for the public because they were sick of the public's traditions. If it all meant nothing anyway, then why should it matter what they do? Dadaism also sparked more unique art movements; Cubism - breaking art into geometric forms, Futurism - an Italian art movement dedicated to capturing the essence of the modern world, Constructivism - artwork using modern material to reflect proletariats ideals, and Expressionism - an art movement that prioritised visualising inner emotion instead of a realistic exterior.
The following movements of ‘art’ (or non-art) are arguably far more important to today's modern day society. So, if that’s the case, why bring up Dadaism at all? We all know trends recycle themselves, go out of trend, come back, and leave just as quickly. The thing is, it’s not just about the trends themselves, but the meaning they bring with them.
I’m sure we’ve all been on the internet recently, after all, you’re all reading this. If you’re anything like me, you’ve also probably seen the upcoming of what we call “brainrot” in the last few years during your ‘short breaks’ that ultimately turn into doom scrolling sessions. While it’s certainly not a new term by any means, the meaning we now know it for only came about within the last 3-ish years. I know what you’re thinking. Brainrot is not art, it’s nothing, AI slop made for stimulation, and you’d be somewhat correct, but isn’t that exactly what Dadaism was meant to be? Non-art. Absolute nothingness in response to a crumbling society.
I’m not standing up for brainrot, and I don’t really understand most of it, but it’s not all bad. In the same category of ‘brainrot’- art with no meaning- you could also include something like ‘Gnarly’ by Katseye. The song is ridiculous, up to interpretation - but it’s fun, it’s insane and it’s something extremely memorable. It fits into the genre of hyperpop, or what’s known as the post media (or post internet) music. It’s meant to be exaggerated and cartoonish, created by a songwriter who studied philosophy. A songwriter who writes for this genre because of the person she is. Alice Longyu Gao is a Chinese, pansexual woman who purposefully wrote the song to blend chaos into American culture. It came from the culture shock of one word being able to mean so many different things, and at the exact same time, nothing.
To be honest, I might be a little late to this conversation, it was something of a topic for discussion during the uprising of the Italian brainrot back in 2025 but I believe it’s still relevant. I definitely don’t think society's gotten better by any means, and well, our world is still crumbling, falling further and further down a sinkhole, bringing us all down with it. The signs are there, they always have been, we’ve received warnings from countless sources, a dime a dozen, and most of the time, we don’t even realise it. Or maybe we do, and we choose to ignore them anyways, but hey, what does it matter? In the end, it all means nothing anyways.
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This is amazing!!
Love this steph!!
Nice Article 😁