Even with a little art history in my background, it is still hard to put a finger on exactly what "Dada" is all about… and as I walked through the National Gallery’s new exhibition last week, I was utterly fascinated as to how a cultural / art movement like Dada could be a "catch all" for so many of the creative expressions in early 20th-century Europe.

(picture taken at my last visit to NGA in August 2005 – East Wing)

Dada was reactive – to the times (WWI), to the prevailing notions about what art should be, and to the whole culture in general. The people involved in the movement prided themselves in creating anti-art: things that may not be beautiful to look at, things that were so ordinary that they were overlooked, or skilled pieces that did not fit into the "fine art" description.

One of the Dadaists, Sophie Taeuber, (her likeness is featured on the Swiss franc, as Cara displayed last week) took many applied art forms, such as needlepoint, sewing and embroidery, and woodworking to show that these forms are not simply handcraft, but works of fine artistry.

Hannah Höch was another influential Dadaist; she was employed by a German magazine to write knitting and crochet patterns, and she also received very high marks for her sewing capabilities.

One of Höch’s major contributions to the Dada movement was her use of the photographic montage – a very new form that was first experimented with by the Dadaists. Many of her montages made strong political and cultural statements: about the government, about women’s role in society, and about the atrocities of World War I.

The first artist to experiment with "readymade" and found art was another Dadaist, Marcel Duchamp, a French artist who moved to New York. The most ordinary of manufactured objects became art, simply because Duchamp deemed them as such. One of Duchamp’s most famous readymades is the "moustachioed" Mona Lisa.

As I surveyed the images, and the sounds (Dadaists also experimented with sound poerty and film) I was struck by the eclecticism, and by the lines that are drawn and the definitions that separate art and craft.

What is it that we do? Do we make art? When I sit down and make a postcard for my PS pal, am I making art? am I making art when I stitch together the hem on my skirt? Sophie Taeuber’s needlepoint project is in the National Gallery of Art. Is that really any different than the needlepoint that Amy’s dad is working on? is scrapbooking any different than Hannah Höch’s photo montages? and Duchamp’s found art – the Project Spectrum Flickr page is chocked full of found art, in a beautiful array of pink and red.

Think about the objects around you. Think about the paper clips, the dinner plates, the glass bottle, the needle and thread, the crochet hook… is this art? is it craft? and in the meantime, let me know your thoughts and/or definitions of art and craft – I would love to hear from you.