Gaga for Dada: The Original Art Rebels

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Arts and culture

Summary

Jim Moir - aka Vic Reeves - explores the influential avant-garde art movement that began as a response to the First World War and inspired generations of artists, writer and musicians, from Monty Python to punk, and from Bowie to Banksy. He restages an early Dada performance in Zurich's Cabaret Voltaire, and he is joined in his celebration of the Dadaists by satirist Armando Iannucci, screenwriter Terry Gilliam, designer Neville Brody, and artists Michael Landy and Cornelia Parker

Review

Gary Rose

Trying to be offbeat and absurd can be somewhat embarrassing if done badly. And there are a few moments in this exploration of Dadaism — the early 20th-century art movement that embraced nonsense and randomness — that veer close to the line. Still, it’s wonderful to hear Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves) waxing lyrical about the artists who informed so much of his comedy. “I was once in a band that had no name, but we smelled of curry,” he reveals. Smells instead of names? How conceptual. The Dadaists would have approved.

His premise is a convincing one: that Dada’s influence is underrated, given how its absurdity helped to shape surrealism, alternative comedy, punk rock, David Bowie… and, yes, Lady Gaga. He gets some fine interviews too, including Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam and Turner Prize winner Martin Creed, who succinctly defines Dada as “being stupid”.

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rolenameParticipantJim MoirParticipantArmando IannucciParticipantTerry GilliamParticipantMichael LandyProducerSimon LloydDirectorSimon LloydExecutive producerRichard Bright

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