Dada Countercultural Practices at the University of Iowa

This essay argues that academic scholarship and artistic actions centered on the history of Dada can themselves enact critiques that resonate with Dada’s original resistance to institutional power. Specifically, we discuss the under-examined case of Dada-related studies, exhibitions, and activities at the University of Iowa. Beginning in the 1960s, a unique group of scholars and art practitioners who were interested in and influenced by German Dada converged in this academic setting. Led by professors Stephen C. Foster, Rudolf Kuenzli, Hans Breder, and others in the arts and humanities, this interdisciplinary group nurtured Dada-derived experiments and critical approaches that directly and indirectly called into question the very institutional structures that helped bring them forth. In other words, Dada studies at the University of Iowa mimicked and reinforced the self-critical and interventionist tactics of historical Dada. Current histories of the movement often speak more to the corporatized theatrics of contemporary art institutions and cultural centers, frequently overlooking the truly integrated and authentic countercultural approaches that were integral to Dada and, in turn, the Iowa spirit. This essay presents an urgently necessary historical overview and legacy of the fortuitous constellation of countercultural programs, events, spaces, and collections at the University of Iowa.