Response to Distinguished Lecture - Thomas O. Haakenson "Art, Science, and the Paradox of Knowledge: Decolonizing the European Avant-Garde"

Abstract

I am grateful for the opportunity to read and respond to Thomas O. Haakenson's essay and contribute to a broader discussion of decolonization in the field of German studies, which is a topic long overdue to reach the pages of German Studies Review. Haakenson's thought-provoking essay discusses the decolonial potential of Dada and the avant-garde more broadly. Haakenson's essay reflects on Dada as both an art movement with a specific chronology associated with cities such as Zurich, New York, Paris, and Berlin and connected to the racialized legacies of colonialism and appropriation, as well as an artistic praxis, with techniques such as juxtaposition and obfuscation rife with critical possibilities. Show more