How did Dada respond to the disillusionment caused by World War I?

The Dada movement emerged in the early 20th century as a direct response to the horrors of World War I. For the artists and war resisters involved, the conflict served as a catalyst for profound despair and a deep-seated disgust toward the bourgeois values they believed had led to such widespread destruction.1

To express this disillusionment, Dadaists adopted a nihilistic and antiaesthetic stance, rejecting traditional modes of artistic creation in favor of spontaneity, chance, and group collaboration. Rather than pursuing conventional painting or sculpture, they utilized techniques like collage, photomontage, and the construction of found objects to challenge the art establishment and society at large.12

By embracing the irrational and the bizarre, Dadaists sought to dismantle the "hollow moral ideals" of the era, using their public meetings and publications to shock and provoke audiences as a form of protest against the societal structures that fueled the war.12