Three Rooms Press presents

2021 International Virtual ¡DADA! Festival

A 4-Part series of livestreamed dada events by contemporary dada artists from around the world

November 10-16, 2021

Featuring DADA Performance! Art! Poetry! 

Three Rooms Press is proud to sponsor the 2021 International Virtual ¡DADA! Festival: A series of livestreamed dada actions by contemporary dada artists from around the world. The festival will include close to 100 artists and writers from 14 countries, performing over a series of seven events live-streamed on YouTube and Facebook. The series will highlight the art and writing of contributors to MAINTENANT 15: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art, published annually by Three Rooms Press since 2008, and will be hosted by MAINTENANT 15 editors Peter Carlaftes and Kat Georges.

Events will include performance, art, and poetry inspired by the theme of this year’s journal “HUMANITY: The REBOOT” Prepare for the provocative, eclectic, and unpredictable collage of performances by more than 50 artists in a series of lively sessions tracking European, South American, Canadian and US performers. Admission to all events is free. All events will be livestreamed to both Facebook and Youtube. Copies of MAINTENANT 15 will be available to order during all events.

Session 1: European DADA Superstars Part I
Wed., November 10, 2021 | 2 PM EDT (19h GMT)

Featured performers: Regina Bellamy (United Kingdom) | Imanol Buisan (Spain) | Fork Burke (Switzerland) | Sam Dodson (United Kingdom) | Fausto Grossi (Spain) | Ruud Janssen (Netherlands) | Boni Joi (Switzerland) | Anatoly Kudryavitsky (Ireland) | Béné Kusendila (Belgium) | Aliah Rosenthal (Switzerland) | Nina Zivancevic (France)

Watch livestream on Facebook  |  Watch livestream on Facebook YouTube

Session 2: The Americas DADA Superstars Part I
Wed., November 10, 2021 | 7 PM EDT (4 PM Pacific)

Featured performers: Elizabeth Ashe (Washington, DC) | C. Merle Bennett (Columbus, OH) | John M. Bennett (Columbus, OH) | Anthony Cox (Chicago, IL) | Kathleen Florence (Thousand Islands, Canada) | Janet Hamill (Circleville, NY) | Donna Kerness (San Antonio, TX) | Giovanni Mangiante (Lima, Peru) | Mary Manspeaker (Brooklyn, NY) | Alison Ross (Atlanta, GA) | Samantha Steiner (New York, NY) | Anoek van Praag (Asheville, NC) | George Wallace (Huntington, NY) | Jennifer Weigel (Newton, KS) | Ingrid Wendt (Eugene, OR) | Gerald Yelle (Amherst, MA) | Logan K. Young (Centreville, VA)

Watch livestream on Facebook  |  Watch livestream on YouTube

Session 3: European DADA Superstars Part II
Tues., November 16, 2021 | 2 PM EDT (19h GMT)

Featured performers: Volodymyr Bilyk (Ukraine) | Jamika Ajalon (France) | Zoë Darling (Switzerland) | Giovanni Fontana (Italy) | Sandra Gea (Greece) | Genco Gulan (Turkey) | Marta Janik (Poland) | Marina Kazakova (Belgium) | Sara Maino (Italy) | Benjamin Robinson (Ireland) | Poul Weile (Germany) | Syporca Whandal (Hungary)

Watch livestream on Facebook  |  Watch livestream on YouTube

Session 4: The Americas DADA Superstars Part 2
Tues., November 16, 2021 | 7 PM EDT (4 PM Pacific)

Featured performers: Liz Axelrod (Albuquerque, NM) | Ross Cisneros (Sanbornville, NH) | Andrei Codrescu (Queens, NY) | Roger Conover (Freeport, ME) | Tchello d’Barros (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) | Holly Day (Minneapolis, MN) | Kofi Fosu Forson (New York, NY) | Annaliese Jakimides (Bangor, ME) | Debra Jenks (New York, NY) | R.S. Mengert (Tempe, AZ) | Sara Marron (Washington, DC) | Lisa Panepinto (Bangor, ME) | Leslie Prosterman (Washington, DC) | Mado Reznik (Buenos Aieres, Argentina) | Wes Rickert (Thousand Islands, Canada) | W.K. Stratton (Round Rock, TX) | Lynnea Villanova (Queens, NY)

Watch livestream on Facebook  |  Watch livestream on YouTube

What is Dada?

The original Dada movement started in Zurich, New York and Paris in 1916 as a artistic reaction to World War I. Many Dadaists believed that the ‘reason’ and ‘logic’ of a bourgeois capitalist society had led people into war—and would continue to do so. 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, and are paraticularly relevant in the current global political spectrum.

Three Rooms Press and Dada

The fierce New York-based independent publisher 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.

About 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.