Transformations of sound culture in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries as prerequisites for the formation of the intermedial aesthetics of Dadaist artistic practices

Abstract

The article examines the origins of the formation of the intermedial aesthetics of Dadaism in the 1910s-1920s. The purpose of the study is to give a cultural reflection on the appearance of this aesthetics in Dadaist works of art. As noted by the researcher of intermediality P. Dayan, the basis of Dadaist artistic practices was the principle of music, that is, abstract synthetic art combining painting, poetry, set design, vocals, etc. The author of this article complements this observation by examining the context of the emergence of such interspecific aesthetics among Dadaists, referring to painting, poetry, music, as well as practices related to their production in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Dadaist works of art, the specifics of their functioning and the effect produced on the viewer are placed by the author in the context of transformations in the sound culture of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The author suggests that the audio experiments of the Dadaists do not arise from a semantic vacuum, but are a logical consequence of experiments with sound (reproduction of sound through the brightness of colors in a painting, noise music, melodic recitation, writing music using technical means of sound recording and sound reproduction) conducted by artists, poets, composers and engineers during the specified period. This accounts for the novelty of the research. The novelty is also evident in the methodological guidelines of the work: the representatives of Sound studies A. V. Ryasov (sound semiotics) and M. Dolar (voice as a cultural phenomenon; an acusmatic voice), as well as the research on the perception of an intermediate work of art by I. V. Kondakov (“the viewer”, “the listener”, “the sound viewer”). This methodology allows us to get a comprehensive understanding of the sound culture at the turn of the century and trace the cause-and-effect relationships of the transformations that took place in it until the emergence of avant-garde trends in art. As a result, the author describes the principle of functioning of a Dadaist work of art: its intermedial structure, in which music, poetry and painting combine and produce a synthetic effect. The work also shows the context of the emergence of intermedial aesthetics in the artistic culture of the 19th-20th centuries, as well as the use of this idea by avant-garde movements, especially Dadaism.

Research materials

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About this article

Publication history

• Received: July 15, 2025.
• Published: August 14, 2025.

Keywords

• интермедиальная эстетика дадаизма
• звуковая культура XIX-XX вв
• звуковая семиотика
• аудиоэксперименты авангарда
• intermedial aesthetics of Dadaism
• sound culture of the 19th-20th centuries
• sound semiotics
• audio experiments of the avant-garde

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