Compose two styles
Rather than blending two styles into a middle, this assigns them roles: one carries the structure, the other appears as an accent. Where the two fight, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Dada: Keep one reading path; rotate and sever the rest
- Type
- Set in Dada's manner (Collide weights, directions and cases in one plane), and let Fluxus's lettering (Write each instruction as one imperative line and print it still open to reading.) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Dada's material (Letterpress black, red, off-white; bind the accidents with repetition); bring in exactly one thing from Fluxus (Found objects, paper, wooden boxes, cheap printing, no signature or scarcity.).
- Colour
- Build on #efe6d0, #d7362f, #161513 and admit one accent from #ece6d7, #c43d31, #22201d.
Where they fight
- Both belong to Avant-garde, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- Dada Not decorative messiness. Decide which authority or custom you are objecting to.
- Fluxus Imitating random instructions and plain boxes settles nothing about ownership, authority and the audience's role, and a score framed on the wall without ever being performed loses the premise of action and participation.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Dada (Style, 1916–1920s) and its accent from Fluxus (Style, early 1960s–late 1970s). Structural cues: Rotated type; Fragments of sound; Collisions of scale; Unbalanced margins. Accent cues, used sparingly: Event scores; Boxes and multiples; Everyday actions; Anti-art humor. Composition: Keep one reading path; rotate and sever the rest. Type and lettering: Collide weights, directions and cases in one plane. Let one material quality come from the second style: Found objects, paper, wooden boxes, cheap printing, no signature or scarcity.. Mood: Rebellion, Play, Exhilaration, Intimacy. Color: build on #efe6d0, #d7362f, #161513 with a single accent drawn from #ece6d7, #c43d31, #22201d. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Dada 1916–1920s / Style / Avant-garde
Deliberately dislocates meaning and order, making authority itself the material of the joke.
- Fluxus early 1960s–late 1970s / Style / Avant-garde
Values the act and the participation above the finished piece, working in scores, boxes, cheap multiples, performances and events until the border between art and daily life gives way.
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