Dada on Vacation (2016)

The focus of DADA on Vacation is the German performer and poet Emmy Hennings and the poet and artist Hugo Ball, who would later become her husband. The film is a fictional portrayal of the early stages of their relationship. They go on vacation together for the first time, travelling to a deserted village - absurdly - on Segways. All the houses are empty. Only large-format paper works of art hang on the facades of the buildings. This Dadaesque vacation film is shown at a party in Hugo's apartment. While the Dadaists at the party playfully give themselves roles in their distant stylization, Hugo Ball and Emmy Hennings remain true to themselves, right up to the balcony scene with fireworks. The closing credits, which last for five minutes, are a mélange of film fiction, credits and making-of. Only now does the viewer realise that the strangely deserted village is a place that has been depopulated for big money, a place that was destroyed by the huge bucket excavators of the Garzweiler II open-cast mining complex. Here we see the political, critical side of Dada.