Dragan Aleksić

Dragan Aleksić (Serbian Cyrillic: Драган Алексић, 22 December 1901 – 22 July 1958) was a Serbian Dadaist poet, author, journalist and filmmaker. He was the founder of the Yugoslavian branch of Dadaism, termed "Yugo-Dada".

Born in a village in the region of Lika, Aleksić first published his poetry in several Zagreb-based youth magazines. During his year of studies in Prague in 1920, he came into contact with then leading European Dadaists such as Kurt Schwitters and Tristan Tzara.

In 1921, he met with Branko Ve Poljanski, the brother of Zenitist leader Ljubomir Micić, and collaborated with the two on several projects for a year. After his personal and artistic break with Poljanski in 1922, Aleksić published the two single issue Dadaist publications ''Dada Tank'' and ''Dada Jazz'' in Zagreb, while Poljanski published a parody of Dada called ''Dada-Jok''. Aleksić gathered a circle of Dadaists with whom he participated in several "Dadaist Matinées".

In late 1922, he left for Belgrade where he edited the culture section in the magazine ''Vreme''. Several side projects at the time include the lost film ''Kačaci u Topčideru'', an American burlesque he recorded with Boško Tokin in 1924 and poetry he published in Monny de Boully's almanach ''Crno na belo''.

During the occupation of Yugoslavia in World War II, Aleksić continued editing the culture section in the now collaborationist ''Novo Vreme''. He was arrested by mistake and suffered a crippling back injury, leaving him bedridden until his death in 1958. Provided by Wikipedia