The word “Merz” appears for the first time in a 1919 collage by Kurt Schwitters. The artist used it to designate the principle that inspired his work and his actions: “I gave the compositions that I made with all sorts of materials the name Merz. It is the second syllable of the word Kommerz [commerce]”.

The Merz works are ironic conceptualizations of the world where all kinds of waste materials (the pages of a newspaper, used tram tickets, cloackroom ticket stubs, cutouts of words) are mixed and superimposed in an overtly Constructivist style. Devastation ensued after World War I and artists had to use the detritus of the war for their creations: “One can even shout with refuse, and that is what I did, nailing it and gluing it together.”

Merz reflects the relationship between art and life. It is a creative force the artist applies to all his activities. It conveys the connection between the chaotic spirit of the Dadaist objet trouvé and the geometric arrangement of elements of Cubism, Orfism, and Constructivism.