A Dada gathering

 Sunday 28th August at 7pm UK time

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A gathering dedicated to the life, work and legacy of Hugo Ball, co-founder, with Tristan Tzara, of the hugely influential Dada movement.

                                                 Hugo Ball (1886-1927) performing at the Cabaret Voltaire

Catherine Schelbert will join us from Switzerland to read, in German and English, from her acclaimed translation of Ball's 1916 novel Flametti, or the Dandyism of the Poor which (as it happens) I reviewed for the Times Lit. Supp. in 2014.  

Hugo Ball wrote this hilarious, provocative, largely overlooked, semi-autobiographical novel in1916, the same year he, Emmy Hennings, Tristan Tzara, and others founded Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich. Their artist-run nightclub gave birth to Dada as a form of artistic protest against the brutality of the First World War raging in Europe. They spread their ideas in absurd, grotesque performances, sound poetry, and manifestoes. It is from this cultural and political context that the novel Flametti emerged.

“Flametti contains my whole philosophy. Love for those who are down. For the outcasts,
the downtrodden, the tormented.”
                                Hugo Ball in a letter to his sister Maria Hildebrand-Ball, December 1916.

“Schelbert has tackled [. . .] the original with wit and gusto —I can think of no other novel with so many exclamation marks. Every utterance is a mini-manifesto.”
                                David Collard, Times Literary Supplement

“Flametti is a novel that believes in art, and that believes in people. But it’s not at all clear why.”
                                Hannah Alpert-Abrams, Full Stop

“I love your Flametti !!! You are the best reader, writer, translator and all the rest . . . ever. Who had the magnificent idea to have you read it? It could be me. I want the whole book read by you.”
                                Jacqueline Burckhardt by email 

The programme celebrates the latest incarnation of Flametti as a revised edition of her translation (published this month), accompanied by an audiobook/radio play (available online and as a 10" vinyl disc) of Catherine's reading embelished by a soundscape created by Rotterdam-based artists Robert Hamelijnck and Nienke Terpsma. 

Join Catherine, Robert, Nienke and myself for a programme dedicated to all things Dada. Expect a few surprises and beneficial shocks. 

    

Keep the lights on!

David