Raoul Hausmann

Raoul Haussman was an Austrian artist and writer. One of the key figures in the Berlin Dad, his experimental photographic collages, sound properties and institutional critiques would have a profound influence on the European Avant Garde which wAas in the aftermath of World War 1.

The photomantage became the technique most associated with the Berlin Dada which was used very widely by Haussman, and would have great influence on artists such as Kurt Schwitters, El Lissitsky and overall with the Russian Constructivist era.

At the same time, Haussman began experimenting with sound poems which he calle ‘phonemes’ and ‘poster poems’ which were originally created by lining up letters by a printer without Haussman’s direct intervention. After this, poems used words which were reversed, chopped up and strung ou, then they were either typed out using a  range of different typographical stratergies, or performed with boisterous exuberance.