What is Dada ???????????????
Who am I and What Is This (a formal introduction)
So, What is Dada ???????????????
Hi there!
As most of you may know, my name is Maria Eduarda, more known as Duda!
I was born and raised in Brasil, and I am currently living in New York City after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in Comparative Literature and Italian Studies. I am an avid reader, a lover of the arts, and also just a girl navigating her 20s.
The idea for this "project" came partly from the frustration of constantly applying to jobs that don't feel fulfilling or meaningful to me. As an aspiring writer and someone with many (many) opinions, I dream of being able to put out work that feels genuine and that has the power to spark real, thought-provoking dialogue.
In conversation with friends I noticed that I often cited references that caught the attention of whoever I was talking to, which sometimes (to my immense pleasure) resulted in a text from them later asking if I could send them the article I had mentioned. As a naturally curious and also restless person, I often find myself diving deep into specific topics / authors / movements/ reflections / that often have no place to go other than, alas, conversations with friends! As valuable as those are, I suddenly found myself yearning for a platform where I could circulate content that I am engaging with and that I care about for a wider audience.
With that in mind I decided to create The Dada Project, what I hope to be a platform for curated, creative media that is meaningful, sincere and dear to me in some way or another. My initial idea was for this to be based mostly on Instagram, but then I found out Instagram has a maximum of 2200 characters per caption, so I was forced to figure out Substack. Essentially, I want to keep the Instagram as a visual diary, and the Substack for more in depth reading and writing. (go follow @thedadaprojct on ig)
I want this to be a vessel not only for my own writing, but also for those of friends, along with the voices of artists, authors and creators that shaped me into who I am today. The Dada Project is a space for creativity on all ends, a home for literature, cinema, art, and so much more. A big glimpse into what I have been reading, watching, thinking, consuming, and reflecting on.
The name Dada is a clear reference to the infamous early 20th-century art movement, developed in reaction to World War I and consisting of artists who rejected the logic, reason, and aestheticism of modern capitalism, instead expressing nonsense, irrationality, and anti-bourgeois protest in their works (more on Dadaism soon!).
But more important than that, "Dada" is what my older sister, Barbara, called me when I was little. An ode to the oldest of the Tavares girls, and a subtle nod to three of my favorite people in the world.
It's so nice to have you here. Xx
Duda.
❤️
👏🏼❤️