The latest issue of MAINTENANT: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art has hit the newsstands—for the first time ever, in full color! We thought it might be a good time to offer some background on DADA and what makes it so special to us.

The original Dada movement started in Zurich, New York and Paris in 1915-16 and grew from a feeling of desperation in the face of World War I. Many Dadaists believed that the “reason” and “logic” of a bourgeois capitalist society had led people into war. They expressed their rejection of that ideology through artistic expression that appeared to reject logic and embrace chaos and irrationality. In addition to being anti-war, Dada was also anti-bourgeois and anarchist in nature. Tenants of the movement continue through today.

Three Rooms Press draws much of its inspiration from Dada and its legacy, including the beat movement, punk rock, pop art and the underground poetry and artscene. Three Rooms Press is particularly inspired by the life and work of Arthur Cravan.

Arthur Cravan was a pugilist, poet, larger-than-life character, and idol of the Dada and Surrealism movements (as well as the nephew of Oscar Wilde). In 1913, he published the original Maintenant, widely-recognized as the first “zine” ever. The current Maintenant series by Three Rooms Press was developed in homage to his original creation. During the course of a short and spectacular life, Cravan wreaked havoc on himself and three continents in an escalating frenzy of artistic mania. He arrived in New York in 1914 where he met the poet Mina Loy, then moved with her to Mexico three years later when the United States entered the war. In 1918, he set out on a sailboat from Mexico to Argentina and never arrived. His disappearance has been the source of broad speculation.

Notable contributors to MAINTENANT 9: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art
Mark Kostabi: Internationally-renowned American artist, musician, and provocateur,
Raymond Pettibon: Internationally renowned American artist who came to prominence in the early 1980s southern California punk rock scene.
Charles Plymell: Poet, novelist, and small press publisher who published work by Ray Bremser, Herbert Huncke, Robert Crumb and S. Clay Wilson.
Grant Hart: founder of punk band Hüsker Dü; musician and collagist
Exene Cervenka: American singer, artist, and poet, best known for her work as a singer in the Los Angeles punk rock band X and folk band The Knitters.
Rokudenashiko (Megumi Igarashi): Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi, who calls herself Rokudenashiko, has been arrested twice (July 2014 and December 2014) on obscenity charges related to her use of images, data files, molds, and 3D prints of her vagina in her artwork. (trial in progress)
Hamza Abu Ayyash: Palestinian based street artist.
Jean-Jacques Lebel:Paris-based artist, writer, and performer

Complete list of contributors to MAINTENANT 9:
Tomomi Adachi, Derek Adams, Natasha Adams, Henrik Aeshna, Linda Albertano, Jan Michael Alejandro, Joel Allegretti, Rafael F. J. Alvarado, Hamza Abu Ayyash, Alice Bag, David Barnes, Amy Bassin, Mary Beach, Gedley Belchior Braga, Christa Belchristo, John M. Bennett, Volodymyr Bilyk, Rabyn Blake, Mark Blickley, Jaap Blonk, Dianne Bowen, John Bowman, Bob Branaman, Fork Burke, Irene Caesar, Billy Cancel, Robert S. Cannaday, Angela Caporaso, Peter Carlaftes, Mona Jean Cedar, Exene Cervenka, Peter Ciccariello, Giuseppe Colarusso, Roger Conover, Karen Constance, Pal Csaba, Hanz L. Daiken, Steve Dalachinsky, Avelino De Araujo, Gabriel Don, Cathy Dreyer, Anna Maria Drutzel, Gil Fagiani, Zenon Fajfer, Jeff Farr, Akinfe Fatou, Becky Fawcett, Banomeu Ferrando, Luc Fierens, Giovanni Fontana, BAAM aka Maria Garfjell, Kat Georges, Christian Georgescu, Robert Gibbons, S. A. Griffi n, Fausto Grossi, Grant Hart, Paul Hawkins, Mara Patricia Hernandez, Robert Hieger, Joan Higuchi, Laura Tringali Holmes, Karen Hildebrand, Mark Hoefer, Bob Holman, Joel Hubaut, David Huberman, Matthew Hupert, Alfonso Iandiorio, Debra Jenks, Bara Jichova, Dobrica Kamperelic, Adeena Karasick, Craig Kite, Antonia Alexandra, Klimenko, Doug Knott, Mark Kostabi, L. Brandon Krall, Hope Kroll, Pawel Kuczynski, David Lawton, Jean Jacques Lebel, Pascale Le Bihan, Marie Lecrivain, Jane LeCroy, Linda Lerner, Patrice Lerochereuil, Martin H. Levison, Goran Lisnjic, Ginny Lloyd, Sophie Malleret, Diana Manister, Chris Mansell, John Mazzei, Philip Meersman, Steven Meerson, Zygimantas Mesijus, Kudirka, Iulia Militaru, Lois Kagan Mingus, Richard Modiano, Mike M. Mollett, Tito Mouraz, Michelle Mullet, Kazanori Murakami, Koji Nagai, Lance Nizami, Alex Nodopaka, Dylan Nyoukis, Valery Oisteanu, Marc Olmsted, Jane Ormerod, Bibiana Padilla Maltos, John S. Paul, Dean Pasch, Claude Pelieu, Puma Perl, Robert W. Petrick, Raymond Pettibon, Charles Plymell, Freke Räihä, Renaat Ramon, Johann Reißer, Mado Reznik, Wesley Rickert, Stephanie Rigsby, Indiana Rogers, Rokudenashiko, Bradley Rubenstein, Martina Salisbury, Gerard Sarnat, Phil Scalia, William A. Seaton, EAD Sellors, Susan Shup, Martin Slidel, Pere Sousa, Orchid Spangiafora, Dd. Spungin, Ben Stainton, Richard Stone, W. K. Stratton, Jessica Stroh, Yuriy Tarnawsky, Cynthia Toronto, Jurgen Trautwein, Ann Firestone Ungar, Anoek Van Praag, Nico Vassilakis, Greg Velasquez, Dominique Vinciguerra, Christophe Vorlet, Duska Vrhovac, Silvia Wagensberg, George Wallace, Scott Wannberg, Mike Watt, Poul Weile, Lee Williams, A. D. Winans, Ben Zank, Larry Zdeb, Nina Zivancevic, Ali Znaidi, and Joanie Hieger Fritz Zosike

For more information on MAINTENANT 9, including ordering and details on past issues, click here.