DADA

and I am not taking about my father. Last Wednesday was my birthday and rather than slaving away copying and pasting for some asshole I decided to take the day off. I slept in till the leisurely hour of 10:00 (because extra sleep is the nicest present I can give myself) and my sister, who also had the day off, made me breakfast in bed. What an awesome sister, right? It gets better, she made chocolate chip pancakes. So after slipping in and out of a carb trance I pulled myself together and went down to the National Gallery to see the DADA exhibit. It's something I had been dying to see for some time and because of all the Cherry Blossom Rif Raf hanging around on the weekends (making it impossibe to get around) this was the perfect opportunity to go. The National Gallery on a wednesday afternoon isn't too bad, I found parking in about 15 minutes and only had to walk a few blocks. It was a beautiful sunny day except for the power winds that were blowing so hard on my pant legs that the fabric was all behind me showing off the lovely sihlouette of my bulging thighs. Oh well, I'll never see those tourists again, I hope. Anyway, I went up to the Mezzanine level to see the show and it was fantastic. I had never seen a collection that size from the DADA period. There was everything from sculpture, paintings, photo montage, photography, film, and all kinds of audio peices performed by many of the well known Dadaists of the time such as Kurt Schwitters. One of the really cool features was the "Le Ballet Mecanique" which was many automated musical instruments including sixteen programmed grand player pianos that play portions of the score for the Leger film "Le Ballet Mecanique". I happened to catch one of the two shows that takes place twice a day for 10 minutes. It was really quite amazing and it brought the musem to a stand still, everyone was captivated. It was right out in the open before going into the exhibit and it ressonated through the halls of the building. But the show was even better. Man Ray, Hans Arp, Marcel Duchamp are just a few of the artists represented. It was great. DADA was a reaction to World War I and what these people thought of the horrors committed in the name of politics. These artists were considered edgy, outrageous, angry and they tore apart what they thought was conventional and recreated it and made you look at it differently. They questioned what art was and what it meant. It was inspiring. So I romed the halls of the Dada exhibit for about 3 hours. That wasn't enough really, but I had to head home to meet my family to go out to dinner. We proceeded down to 2000 Pennsylvania Ave. to one of the finest seafood restuarants in DC called Kinkeads. It lived up to its reputation. I'm still full. Anyway, it was a great birthday and I think I will make it a ritual to take the day off and indulge in some culture and great food. Doesn't get much better than that.