1886-1927 German painter and poet, one of the founders of the Dada movement.
Ball is probably best remembered for his sound poetry which he called "Klanggedicht." An example of this is Seepferdchen und Flugfische.
In 1910, he joined the "Max Reinhardt School of Dramatic Art". It was during this time he met Richard Huelsenbeck
In 1913 he became stage director at the Munich Chamber Theater.
Along with Jean Arp, Richard Huelsenbeck, Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco, and Emmy Hennings started Zurich Dada. Editor of the first Dada review called 'Cabaret Voltaire'.
On Feb. 5, 1915, their first achievement was the establishment of a venue called Cabaret Voltaire. Hugo named it after the legendary satirist. In this cabaret, they practiced an early form of Performance Art known at the time as simultaneous poems. This involved several people reciting the same poem in different languages. They also developed sound poems which had no real words in them. Examples of such poems:
In 1917, he quarreled with Tzara, at which point he left the movement. He moved to Bern, Switzerland and helped edit an anti-Kaiser weekly.
In 1927, a volume was published called "Flight out of Time" which consisted of diary excerpts from the Dada period.
Related nodes:
Sources:
Ball, Hugo, "Flight Out of Time", University of California Press, Berkley, 1996.
http://www.peak.org/~dadaist/English/Graphics/ball.html
Motherwell, Robert, "The Dada Painters and Poets: An Anthology", Harvard University Press, 1951
Rubin, William S., "Dada, Surrealism, and Their Heritage", Museum of Modern Art, NY, 1968.
Last Updated 12.07.02