Dada is here! In Zurich, it always has been and even more so during the movement’s hundredth anniversary this year. One of its most lauded protagonists is now the focus of the brilliant exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zurich: Francis Picabia (1879–1953). An appropriation artist before the term even existed, the dashing racecar driver, lounge lizard, and womanizer who ridiculed authorities and “adopted” art history with chutzpah. His art was like him: between kitsch and ambition, eccentric, ironic, excessive. The retrospective promises to be a red-letter event. The catalogue provides essays and texts by well-known authors who situate Picabia’s position within the Dada movement and investigate his contribution to art of the modern era. The quality of the illustrated section makes for an elaborate catalogue that is a wonderful read long after having visited the exhibition.
 
Exhibitions: Kunsthaus Zurich 3.6.–25.9.2016 | MoMA, New York 20.11.2016–19.3.2017