Project Dada - Community-wide art project is whimsical fun for everyone

Get ready for an exciting community wide art endeavor - “Project Dada” - which launched in March.

In a joint venture with The Bakersfield Californian, the Museum is embarking on this project designed to engage the entire community. The concept is based on an activity already familiar to many children, where pages of children’s books are cut into thirds, the top third pages showing the head of a person or animal, the middle third the torso, and the bottom third the legs, with children having the ability to “mix and match” by turning pages.

Project Dada asks individuals to create separate body parts of a human, animal or other creature on paper: a head, torso or feet. The three parts are randomly put together with others’ artworks to make one unusually formed creature. Anyone can participate and creativity is encouraged. The Dadas need not be of human form and can be made with paint, pastels, collage, photos, fabric or any other medium.

The Californian printed and distributed postcards within the paper on March 9. Readers were asked to create a head, torso or feet and which will then be randomly paired with other readers’ cards. The pieces will be displayed at the Museum beginning May 22.

Readers cam mail their “Dada” artwork to the museum, or, if it is thick or has pieces attached to it, to place it in an envelope for mailing or bring it by the Museum.

“Speaking for all wanna-be artists whose ambition far exceeds their skills, what I loved about Project Dada from the start was how egalitarian and inclusive it is. Everyone, regardless of training or talent, has a chance to have his work shown at the museum. Creativity and whimsy are all that is required. I think our readers will have a great time contributing their portion of the body and will get a kick out of seeing how the ‘masterpiece’ turns out,” said Jennifer Self, Lifestyles Editor for The Californian.

Project Dada was the brainchild of Museum art instructor Brent Eviston, who will spearhead the display of the Dadas and will help promote art education through the project.

His idea comes from the concept of the “exquisite corpse” (also known as “exquisite cadaver” or “rotating corpse”). The technique was invented by Surrealists in 1925, and is similar to an old parlour game called Consequences in which players write in turn on a sheet of paper, fold it to conceal part of the writing, and then pass it to the next player for a further contribution.

The term “Dada” derives from an artistic movement that was deemed “anti-art” and had an impact on the Surrealists movement which was the movement that propelled the exquisite corpse process.

Anyone interested in participating in Project Dada can contact the Museum at 661-323-7219 or  visit The Caifornian website at 

http://www.bakersfield.com/dada/