Membranen

- Membranen
- Membranes
1978
b&w vintage print
17,7 × 24 cm

In the practice of Ștefan Bertalan, open-air actions, interventions and studies became more common during the Sigma years. In his case, as with group’s other members, the line between collective artistic research and individual quest was a fine one. Most importantly, nature provided the group with a holistic view on life and its phenomena. Their artistic propositions hence probed the perceptual and cognitive relationships established via the integration of various artificial materials and constructed shapes—inspired by the principles and forms of plants or insects—into nature. It was the Pădurea Verde (Green Forest) near Timișoara that usually served as the terrain for these experiments, such as in the action "Membranes." "Datura Stramonium" (August 1976). The inverted pentagram of the "Datura stramonium" (thorn apple) flower constituted the starting point of this investigation, which was proposed by Bertalan and realized with help from his family as well as students from the Department of Architecture at the Polytechnic Institute in Timișoara, where he was a professor between 1971 and 1981. The flower’s shape was recreated using white canvas constructions placed between the forest’s trees at various heights and distances from one another. These white membranes became projection screens for the movements of light and leaves, their geometry being supplemented by numerous wooden bars suspended in mid-air by tensed strings that gave rise to a specific rhythmicity in dialogue with the natural order. A.Se.