
DADA 1916—1923 is the editorial transcription of the poster-catalogue created by Marcel Duchamp for the famous Dada retrospective of 1953 at the Sidney Janis Gallery. Duchamp planned, organised and installed a major historical show of international Dada at the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1953. More than two hundred works of art and documents were on display, each one identified in the Duchamp-designed catalogue that was itself pure Dada: a tissue-thin broadsheet with written texts (by Jean Arp, Richard Huelsenbeck, Jacques-Henri Lévesque, and Tristan Tzara) in contrasting typefaces, set in narrow columns that ran diagonally down the page.
This book is designed only with the use of typography. The first part consists of the four texts from the poster-catalogue, which introduce Dada and its dynamics. This part is enumerated by roman numerals. The second part of the book is entirely dedicated to the artworks. Each page consists of the caption and the origin place of one singular artwork; from this point forward the pages are enumerated by Arabic numerals, with the page number corresponding to the artwork number in the exhibition. The book is also half-covered by a slipcase that interacts with the title on the cover by completing the word DADA, thus creating an endless game of repetition.
DADA 1916—1923
typographic catalogue
15×21cm
thread sewed softcover with an half slipcase
September 2021
Font in use
Akzidenz Grotesk (H. Berthold AG)
Project made with
Supervised by
Irene Bacchi











