Dada and its impact on artistic production in the course of formation with consumable materials among a sample of female students in the Early Childhood Department at Al-Jouf University

Abstract

The study aims to identify similarities between the Dada art movement and the artistic productions created by students enrolled in the “Forming with Recycled Materials” course in the Early Childhood Department at Al-Jouf University, focusing on themes, styles, aesthetic standards, techniques, and philosophical foundations. Using a comparative descriptive method, the study analyzed ten selected student artworks and employed a questionnaire comprising five dimensions and twenty items. The findings revealed a strong resemblance between the students’ work and Dadaist characteristics, with the highest similarity observed in techniques, followed by aesthetics and styles, while moderate resemblance appeared in themes and philosophies. Dominant themes included instinct and conflict, followed by human cruelty and war. Satirical approaches were most prevalent in style, followed by spontaneity, then irony and indifference. Aesthetic features emphasized strangeness and distortion, followed by destruction and deconstruction. The techniques employed closely mirrored those associated with Dadaism. Philosophically, the artworks reflected substantial influence from deconstructionist and psychoanalytic perspectives, with limited presence of nihilistic and existential thought. The results suggest that the students’ creative engagement with recycled materials reflects core Dadaist principles in both technical and conceptual terms, highlighting the continued relevance of avant-garde art movements in contemporary art education despite differing cultural and historical contexts.