.
At the end of May, Ball and Henning left for Zurich. Despite some bad beginnings, Ball approached Jan Ephraim, owner of a cafe, and proposed starting an avant-garde cabaret, which then served as Zurich's "first literary cafe". Janco, Tzara and Arp joined and became core members of a group around the Cabaret. The opening night was a success and Ball requested Huelsenbeck's presence (who then brought with him an interest in primitivism from Berlin). The cabaret's legacy helps us understand the origins of Dada's radical innovation, where art becomes a critique of modernity itself, elicits audience response (whether shock or amusement), and fosters community. .
We must not forget or undermine the political character of the group; the activities were an ethical response to the cultural crisis provoked by the War. The beginning of Dada, as sang by Hennings, was a "humanitarian reaction against mass murder in Europe, the political abuse of technology". .
There was an emphasis on modernist works; the Cabaret was a focal point for the "newest art " (displayed inside). Among the works hung on the walls were abstract collages by Arp (focus on the material itself and influenced by Kandinsky). Abstraction in itself was new; it is the modern form against the modern itself. Zurich dadaists embraced abstraction at this moment of its invention. .
Performances at the Cabaret became more radical, moving toward the invention and exploration of new genres. There was the invention of a new poetic genre: sound poetry, poems without words (June 1916). By renouncing the language that journalism has abused and by returning to the innermost alchemy of the word, there was a desire to destroy the ability for speech to serve as a vehicle for war. This becomes primitivism in a sense where it becomes detached from social purpose, untouched by the historical present, stirring primal memories. There was an affinity between modern and primitive.