Weimar Anxieties Through Avant Garde Short Film

One of the clearest ways to understand a society and the held mentalities and beliefs over time is through film. The era of the Weimar Republic in Germany through the lens of film shows a society not just rooted in political and post-war fear, but anxiety of changing gender roles and norms in culture. The heavily edited and cut up style of dada in Berlin from artists like Hannah Höch and Raoul Hausmann act as representations of the held mentalities of fear and anxiety during the Weimar Republic. ‘Kunst an Kunst’, translated into English as ‘Art on Art’, recreates the style and form of Berlin dada art through collage in the medium of film. Following the creative endeavors of Berlin Dadaists, ‘Kunst an ‘Kunst’ heavily plays into the themes of gender roles, fear of modernity, and New Objectivity. By sampling films from German dada directors like Hans Richter, along with other Avant Garde short films of the time and radio plays of the era, this heavily edited and constructed art film displays the same fears and anxieties that controlled Germany from the years 1919 to 1933