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What does "Karawane" mean?
"Karawane" is a Dadaist poem written by Hugo Ball in 1916. It was composed of nonsense words, printed in stylized text, and performed by the artist in a cardboard costume at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich.
The term is used in the Dada Nouveau Society as an all-purpose colloquialism, a jibberish word of greeting, farewell, solidarity, resistance, joy, and exasperation. It's an expression for the inexpressible.
Karawane!
A dramatization of the "Karawane" performance at Cabaret Voltaire
From the documentary film 'Dada', directed by Greta Deses and produced in 1969.
Art nerds can read an academic analysis by Hal Foster here.
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