Lahore

This week two lectures were delivered by Mariano Akerman in Pakistan. Entitled "Creativity in French Art" and "French Avant-Garde Art," the lectures were given at the Beaconhouse National University and National College of Arts, both in Lahore.





Despite the unexpectedly high temperatures some thirty students were present at Akerman's lecture at the BNU and other fifty attended the lecture at the NCA, which was broadcasted live as a video-conference and this factor multiplied the participants, as students of the University of Gujrat, FJWU Rawalpindi, AKU-IED Karachi and IBA Karachi had also the opportunity to follow the event in Lahore at the very same time it was taking place.



In Lahore Mariano Akerman also met a number of colleagues and friends, such as Pakistani art curator Qudsia Rahim, French collage artist Stephanie Dachary and German design teacher Wendolyn Kulick. Akerman recieved an exemplar of the well-documented book The French in Lahore from Christian Adam de Villiers, Director of Alliance Française de Lahore. The book was given to him as a token of appreciation of his educational initiatives to Pakistan. Akerman's activities encompass so far ten educational lectures, workshops and art exhibitions, foundraising to help the needed, and even a collage and writting competition to stimulate everyone.

Akerman remains always fascinted with Lahore achitecture and the many other cultural charms of the magnificent capital of Punjab. Following with interest Islamic traditions and heritage, Mughal design and several modern tendencies in Pakistani art, Akerman declared at the NCA that "everyone in Pakistan is proud of Prof. Naazish Ata-Ullah, for she is a most respectable researcher and one of the finest guardians of the arts of the country." After the lecture at NCA the feedback of the students who endured the two-hours meeting and video conference was palpably enthusiastic.