Cabaret Voltaire : Dada Zurich

  1916 : Emmy Hennings and Hugo Ball, Niederdorf Zurich

1915 -

-- beginning of World War I
- Hugo Ball (writer and theatre director) came with his female partner Emmy Hennings (dancer and singer) from Munich to Zurich.

1935 : View from the Muenstergasse to Spiegelgasse 1 February 3, 1916: inauguration of the Cabaret or 'artist-tavern' Voltaire located at Spiegelgasse 1 in Zurich.

-- agreement with the owner of the tavern 'Meierei' to use the backroom for a literary cabaret
-- music, dance, manifestos, theory, poems, pictures, masks and costumes presented by Hugo Ball, Emmy Hennings, Marcel Janco, Tristan Tzara, Georges Janco and Hans Arp.

  placard for the first show

-- World War I
-- even so: atmosphere in Zurich was very liberal

placard for Dada event at the 'Zunfthaus zur Meise' The only edition of the magazine Cabaret Voltaire was published on June 15, 1916.

-- initiated by Hugo Ball and contained, amongst contributions from Kandinsky, Arp, Modigliani and others, the first print of the word Dada!

Hugo Ball, '18.3.1917: Together with Tzara I took over the rooms of gallery Corray and yesterday we opened the gallery DADA ...'

At the Bahnhofstrasse 19, they exhibited works from Kandinsky, Klee, Arp, de Chirico, Feininger, Ernst, Janco, Modigliani, Macke, Kokoschka and others.

  Cover for the magazine 'Dada' Nr.3

Hugo Ball, '18.4.1917: Tzara insisted on the magazine. My suggestion to name it 'Dada' was accepted.'