ABSTRACT
A little drawing printed in a Parisian newspaper during the heyday of Paris Dada encapsulates everything one might need to know about Dada: pantomime anarchy, the thrill and energy of absurd performance, and Dada as a word that connotes nonsensical baby-like babbling. As well as actual words in different languages, from hobby horses to double negatives and positives, via the penises of sacred animals in parts of West Africa. Crisis and the Arts represents a massive contribution to understanding of the history and influence of Dada. Even as the series tends to underscore the historiographical and biographical approaches that have eclipsed interest in Dada's living richness as textuality and its potential—in contradiction of Dada's usual typecasting—as a serious body of literature, thought and ideology. The history and activities of most canonical Dadaists are well documented within a huge body of existing published material.
