Guy Livingston’s performance depicted in New Yorker illustration by Ariel Davis
Tag: Dada
Dada at the Movies ii (new show for the centenary!)
What is Dada?
On July 8, 1923, the Parisian Dadaists organized the most famous Dada event ever. Everybody who was anybody was on the program that night: a play by Tristan Tzara, films by Man Ray and Hans Richter, live music by George Antheil, Erik Satie, and Darius Milhaud. During the show, a riot broke out amongst the rival Dada factions, and the poet Paul Eluard was thrown off the stage, breaking his arm. The gendarmes were summoned, and the Dada Soirée was memorialized as one of the great Parisian art scandals of all time. Inspired by the extraordinary artists who participated that night, pianist Guy Livingston has re-created the music and rediscovered the films, bringing us back to 1923 for his updated one-man show, Dada at the Movies.
Join audiences from all over Europe, Canada, and the US, who have delighted in Guy’s whirlwind, virtuoso, and comic performance.
The stage is dark, except for a spotlight illuminating a bicycle wheel from below (homage to Marcel Duchamp), which turns slowly, casting an ominous shadow onto the ceiling. The films are accompanied by live piano music, performed by Guy Livingston, who frequently interrupts with Dada manifesti, poetry, and even the sale of Dada ice-cream (it’s made of tissue paper), but only for those who have the special Dada-dollars.
