call for art: absurdity: in dada we trust

Woman Made Gallery (WMG) seeks entries for the Absurdity: In Dada We Trust exhibition, juried by WMG co-founders, Kelly P Hensen and Beate Minkovski and on display from July 22 to August 19, 2023.

Absurdity, In Dada We Trust, is inspired by a collaboration between The Art Center Highland Park, Chicago Women's Caucus for Art, and Stola Contemporary Art and in honor of artist Helene Romer Smith who died in March 2022. When the world goes mad, the arts go Dada.

In the US and across the globe, bullies have been applauded and emboldened to share self-serving rhetoric of nationalism and to act out sanctioned racism. Women's rights are being set back 50 years, and the LGBTQ community is dangling by a thread as individual rights are regulated but assault weapons are not. Social media has hijacked news and the term "alternate set of facts" has become the norm, no longer just the brunt of jokes.

For artists, it is a clear call to look to the past for guidance and take a stand. How? In a word: Dadaism. Created as a reaction to the absurdity of war and the propaganda of WWI, Dadaism was the reaction of a group of artists from another time in history when the world was on the brink of madness. That is why Woman Made Gallery is joining this collaboration in building a coalition to fight back against the current trend toward insanity.