Dada was an anti-establishment art movement that emerged in 1915. A reaction to the horrors of World War I, it championed nonsense, chaos, and absurdity to protest the logic, reason, and aestheticism of the contemporary climate. It aimed to destroy traditional values, creating a new art to replace the old.

Here are three principles to apply to create your own Dadaist artwork.

Attack traditional values and aesthetics

Dada was anti-art and anti-tradition. It was total negation, a destructive force that threatened any hallowed work or ideal. Marcel Duchamp drew a moustache on the Mona Lisa and titled it L.H.O.O.Q. In French, the letters, when pronounced, sound like 'Elle a chaud au cul', loosely translated as 'there is fire down below', or, more comedically, 'she has a hot arse'.

Subject all aesthetic values to ridicule and undermine any claims to truth. Reject everything.

Use found objects

'Readymades', another of Duchamp's 'creations', were ordinary, often practical, objects that the artist would generally alter in some way. However, this wasn’t always the case. 'Fountain', the most famous readymade, is an unaltered urinal that Duchamp declared art and submitted for exhibition. Duchamp described readymades as 'everyday objects raised to the dignity of a work of art by the artist's act of choice'.

Make use of any commonplace objects you find to create.

Embrace the absurd

Beyond its rejection of pretty much everything, Dada has no real philosophy. It's not intended to be interpreted. It's messy, unpredictable, and rebellious. It challenges all order and meaning, embracing the chaotic and the absurd at all points.

Let go of any preconceptions – work randomly and haphazardly.

Ditch tradition, embrace chaos, and make art from nonsense with these three steps.