Dadism is a multiple, anti-art movement resulting from the social and psychological dislocations of World War 1. As a movement Dadaism is important for freeing up artistic expression and forms, as well as for being a generating influence on surrealism. Throughout dada's history there was many different meanings and forms that developed in the four main dada centres. Dada developed firstly in Zurich and New York in 1915 then long after spread to Germany where it had four different centres (Berlin, Hanover and Cologne), and then saw the ends of it in Paris. Even though not expressed in books and so on Dada influenced many other cities and areas. There are many reasons for the differences in the different centres of Dada.
             The beginning of Dada all began in the Armory show in New York, which was prior to the movement in 1913. It introduced Modernism to the U.S.A. Marcel Duchamp's NUDE DESCENDING A STAIRCASE (a cubist and futurism influenced piece) was a sensation. Duchamp was a key figure in the development of Dada. Dada helped give the benefit of the doubt to a totally different concept of art. The Dada movement officially began in 1915 and ended about in 1923.
             The reason that Dada was an anti-art movement was that a few years prior to the war the Futurist artists of Italy glorified machines and futuristic ideas. The Dadaists believed that if art was apart of the culture and society that created war. Then art was just as much as a influence as anything else, this is why the Dadaist took such a strong anti-art attitude.
             Duchamp considered Dada as ideas whereas Tristan Tzara thought of it more as a revolutionary act against the normal culture and politics of human existence. This explains the multiple ideas and paths that Dada took over its history. Dada had a great multiplicity of ideas and meanings not only varying in different cities but also within them. Dada is the attitude and the thoughts of the many different artist...