The Dada Ball & Bash is a night of revelry, an evening when CAM fans expose their most exuberant and creative selves. In the spirit of the early 20th-century movement that opposed reason with frivolity, nonsense, and the absurd, the Dada Ball & Bash blows a raspberry to conformity. The Dada Ball side of the evening is for cocktails and fine dining amidst mind-blowing decorations and multiple surprises. The Bash is when the night kicks over to another gear and the last vestige of decorum makes an exit. All of this frivolity raises vital support for CAM’s dynamic exhibitions and innovative education programs. It’s also a celebration of the marriage of art and life the Dadaists consummated more than a century ago.
With an invitation to “live out your future fantasy,” the 2023 Dada Ball & Bash brought the digital discothèque to the heart of St. Louis. The fundraiser’s theme was inspired by Jacolby Satterwhite: Spirits Roaming on the Earth—an exhibition with dream-like virtual worlds that made an imaginative and irreverent match for this year’s cyber-themed event.