Sigma Group

Abstract

This article discusses the complex cumulus of theoretical references and artistic ideas that shaped the particular understanding of art and learning of Sigma, a seminal artistic group founded in 1969 in Timișoara, Romania. In the epoch, the group’s name became associated with an innovative analytical practice pioneering, simultaneously with then-current international debates, a scientific and research-based attitude which moved the interest from the medium condition of art toward alternative cognitive models for understanding society and life. Inquiring the significant detour Sigma produced in art and pedagogy that was general in Romania at the time, the study reflects upon the matrix of cultural relations that shaped the particular environment in which the artists lived and the interdisciplinary dialogues which fostered at the Art Lyceum in Timisoara the development of a more nuanced and experiential type of curriculum in art, product design and architecture.