Tonight the Brunnier Art Museum will come alive with the recreation of events surrounding the Dadaist Movement and the creation of the Cabaret Voltaire in the student performance of “Evening at the Cabaret Voltaire.”

“The Dadaists wanted to engineer a place that would criticize the culture and question the assumptions that lead to the war,” Dr. Dennis Raverty, art historian and professor specializing in 20th Century art said.

The Cabaret Voltaire was formed in Zurich in 1916 when poet Hugo Ball transformed a tavern into a sort of literary and artistic cafe where poetry readings, art exhibitions and all sorts of radical performances were held.

On May 15, 1916, Ball published a pamphlet titled “Cabaret Voltaire,” which was a collection of literary and artistic contributions. In his introduction he said, “When I founded the Cabaret Voltaire, I was of the opinion that there ought to be a few young people in Switzerland who not only laid stress, as I did, on enjoying their independence, but also wished to proclaim it.”

Raverty said that draft dodgers who refused to go to war met at the Cabaret Voltaire and performed pieces called “anti-art” that were against the culture that lead to World War I.

He said that the performers ultimate goal was to use art as a tool to change the direction of society.

“Evening at the Cabaret Voltaire” is part of the Big Brain Cafe at the Brunnier Art Museum that seeks to promote an informal gathering for artists, students and anyone interested in art.

“We’re trying to create the flavor of the original Cabaret,” Raverty, director of this performance, said.

Raverty described the mood of the performance as absurd, funny and critical.

“Even 85 years later it still seems radical,” he said.