現在でもコンテンポラリーアートに多大な影響力を持つ、ダダとシュルレアリスム。今なお衰え知らずのこれらアヴァンギャルド運動の人気の秘密を探ります。本書では、さまざまな形で表現されてきたダダとシュルレアリスムを、マグリットやダリ、デュシャン、マン・レイなどの作品を見ながら紹介し、両者に共通する、性、アイデンティティ、フェティシズム、ショックタクティク（暴力的または過激なイメージ）といったテーマや、これらの運動にまつわる論争にも目を向けます。
   

• A very popular subject, not least because of its influence on contemporary art
• Discusses work by well-known artists such as Magritte, Dali, Duchamp, and Man Ray
• Explores Dada and Surrealism's obsession with sexuality, issues of identity, fetishism, and shock tactics
• Examines the many debates surrounding these movements, including the Marquis de Sade's position as a Surrealist deity, attitudes towards the city, the impact of Freud, and attitudes to women
• Covers Zurich, New York, Berlin, Cologne, Barcelona, Paris, London, and recently discovered examples in Eastern Europe

  
The avant-garde movements of Dada and Surrealism continue to have a huge influence on cultural practice, especially in contemporary art, with its obsession with sexuality, fetishism, and shock tactics. In this new treatment of the subject, Hopkins focuses on the many debates surrounding these movements: the Marquis de Sade's Surrealist deification, issues of quality (How good is Dali?), the idea of the 'readymade', attitudes towards the city, the impact of Freud, attitudes to women, fetishism, and primitivism. The international nature of these movements is examined, covering the cities of Zurich, New York, Berlin, Cologne, Barcelona, Paris, London, and recenlty discovered examples in Eastern Europe. 

Hopkins explores the huge range of media employed by both Dada and Surrealism (collage, painting, found objects, performance art, photography, film) , whilst at the same time establishing the aesthetic differences between the movements. He also examines the Dadaist obsession with the body-as-mechanism in relation to the Surrealists' return to the fetishized/eroticized body.