Those Were the Days

Konstantin Podrevskii and Boris Fomin: Dorogoi dlinnoyu (Дорогой длинною, "By the Long Way"), by 1925


Elisa Akerman, Figures in a terrace, gouache, c. 1968

Once upon a time there was a tavern,
Where we used to raise a glass or two.
Remember how we laughed away the hours,
think of all the great things we would do.

Those were the days my friend,
We thought they'd never end,
We'd sing and dance forever and a day,
We'd live the life we choose,
We'd fight and never lose,
For we were young and sure to have our way.
Lalala lah lala, lalala lah lala

Then the busy years went rushing by us.
We lost our starry notions on the way.
If by chance I'd see you in the tavern,
We'd smile at one another and we'd say...

Those were the days my friend,
We thought they'd never end,
We'd sing and dance forever and a day,
We'd live the life we choose,
We'd fight and never lose,
For we were young and sure to have our way.
Lalala lah lala, lalala lah lala

Just tonight I stood before the tavern,
Nothing seemed the way it used to be.
In the glass I saw a strange reflection,
Was that lonely soldier/woman really me?

Those were the days my friend,
We thought they'd never end,
We'd sing and dance for-ever and a day,
We'd live the life we choose,
We'd fight and never lose,
For we were young and sure to have our way.
Lalala lah lala, lalala lah lala

Through the door there came familiar laughter.
I saw your face and heard you call my name.
Oh, my friend, we're older but no wiser,
For in our hearts the dreams are still the same.

Those were the days my friend,
We thought they'd never end,
We'd sing and dance forever and a day,
We'd live the life we choose,
We'd fight and never lose,
For we were young and sure to have our way.
Lalala lah lala, lalala lah lala



Resources
Sources and details

...Qué tiempo tan feliz

...Le temps des fleurs

Blue Chip Magazine

by Mariano Akerman

The last issue of Blue Chip Magazine includes two articles about my experience with the visual arts in Argentina and Asia, and the cultural activities which I have been developing for Pakistan during the last five years.

Mariano Akerman, Idyll, Islamabad, 2011

Two articles have been written by Ilona Yusuf and Sara Mahmood. Each of them is a gem. Both articles comprise a total of nine pages and are profusely illustrated, with a number of remarkable collages made in Pakistan for the competition organized two months ago and some assorted examples of my own artwork, 1979-2011.

The articles incorporate material concerning several programs which I have developed for the Embassies of Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland in Pakistan, between 2007 and 2012. One of the articles is mostly devoted to the Gestalt Educational Program 2011. Referring to it, the article also reports the active participation of students and teachers from Islamabad College for Girls, COMSATS University, Postgraduate College for Women Rawalpindi, National University of Modern Languages, Alliance Française d'Islamabad, Lahore Grammar School, and International School of Islamabad.

Enhancing Perception: The Gestalt Lectures and Collage Competition
by Ilona Yusuf
Blue Chip Magazine, Issue 87, Volume 8, Islamabad, January-February 2012, pp. 16-19, ill.

Mariano Akerman: Bridging Cultures
by Sara Mahmood
Blue Chip Magazine, Issue 87, Volume 8, Islamabad, January-February 2012, pp. 20-24, ill.

Blue Chip Magazine can be found in several places in Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore.

Activities' general background. A passage from an article that appeared in the previous issue of BCM: "Pakistan is made up of four provinces, Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan, and Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (KP) – formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Although English is the national language and Urdu is the common language, each of these provinces also has a regional dialect, and people from each province are distinctive and possess different cultures. Pakistan has come into international notice post 9/11 as a country that is on the main front line in the "War on Terror" – while internationally Pakistan’s actions have earned mixed reviews, the fact remains that in the years from 2003–2011, over 33,000 people have been fatalities to terrorist violence in Pakistan ("Pakistan Assessment," 2011). This position has affected the country’s stability, economy, and security deeply" (Maliha Shaikh, "Pakistan, Home of the Ajrak," January 2012).

Shazia Afridi
Inspiration and Expression Collage and Letters Competition
Pakistan 2010

According to the Pakistan Assessment, 33,213 is the number of fatalities until February 20, 2011 (South Asia Terrorism Portal). But by the end of 2011, this becomes 38,765; and up to now the total fatalities in terrorist violence in Pakistan equals 39,209 victims (Fatalities in Terrorist Violence in Pakistan 2003-2012, SATP Database, 5.2.2012). This means more than 1,000 dead persons per year. From 1948 to 2012, all the casualties of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict together were between 14,500 and 20,000 (List of Ongoing Military Conflicts). The war between Israelis and Palestinians would have claimed 20,000 victims in sixty-four years. The war in North-West Pakistan has claimed so far 40,000 victims, which means the double of victims, but in eight years.

André Maurois once said that art will give man what the world refuses to him: the union of contemplation and peace.

"Vers l'art libre et moderne," National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, 18.3.2010

Saba Malik
Inspiration and Expression Collage and Letters Competition
Pakistan 2010

Akerman, "Art from Belgium," lecture, Belgian Residence, Islamabad, 29.6.2010. Paintings from the exhibition Les raisons d'être can be seen in the background.

Shankar (eight-years old), The Hindukushi Elephant, Islamabad, 2011
Wax crayons and watercolor on paper

A most inspired young painter
Pakistan Drawing and Painting Workshop
by Mariano Akerman
International School of Islamabad, 10.3.2011

A remarkable collage made in Pakistan by a local student
Prized in the Gestalt Collage Competition
German Embassy, Islamabad, November 2011

Young Pakistanis are very curious about their pre-British past and how to connect with it. There is a freshness in the way they engage.

Gestalt Educational Program
Mariano Akerman lecturing at COMSATS University
Pakistan, 28.10.2011

Artwork: The Pakistani Period

Mariano Akerman, Tell Me about It, 2010
Collage, 45 x 45 cm

Akerman, Prickly Matters I, 2009
Collage, 27.5 x 19 cm.

Akerman, The Things I tell You, 2010
Collage, 45 x 45 cm
Sidra Khan Collection, San Francisco

Akerman, Memory, collage, 2009

Akerman, Hindu Kushi Garden, 2011
Collage, 45 x 25.5 cm
Hosai Rahimi Collection, Islamabad

Akerman, Some Questions, (2000) 2011
Watercolor, 36 x 15.5 cm
Dr Jenny Naseem, Islamabad

Online Information
Educational activities 2005-10
Educational activities 2011
The Gestalt Program
Seminaire des arts 2009-12

Blue Chip Magazine. Launched in 2004, Blue Chip has emerged as Pakistan’s premiere business magazine. Featuring the latest economic data as well as regular telecommunications, energy, capital markets and industry updates, Blue Chip has become an indispensable decision making tool within all levels of the private and public sectors. The magazine currently has a circulation of 6,000 copies a month primarily to Pakistan’s private sector including all levels of the financial sector from junior executives to senior management, all levels of industry including the telecommunications, energy, textiles and IT sectors. Blue Chip is also widely circulated in Pakistani government departments including the Ministry of Finance, the Board of Investment, the Securities & Exchange Commission, the Competition Commission, the State Bank of Pakistan, the Ministry of Health and the Planning Commission. It is circulated among all the embassies in bulk, particularly the Saudi, UAE, Chinese, US, UK and Argentine embassies which are then sent on to the various ministries abroad. Blue Chip is currently available on all PIA, Etihad and Cathay Pacific international business class flights originating from Pakistan.

Three Dozen Lectures

by Mariano Akerman

Seminaire des Arts: Three Dozen Lectures Given
1. Argentinean Art
2. Art as Shape and Contents
3. The Imaginary in the Visual Arts
4. Bible-inspired Art
5. The Long Road from Representation to Abstraction
6. Image and Prejudice
7. Art Boundaries: Some Kind of Fluid Matter?
8. Tradition and Innovation
9. Art as Intention in Context
10. Power in the Picture
11. Fine Arts in the Nineteenth Century
12. Nineteenth-Century Architecture
13. Six European Masters: Chardin, Goya, Géricault, Turner, Corot, Daumier
14. Fin-de-Siècle: Symbolism and Art Nouveau
15. Modernist Attitudes towards Ornament: Art Nouveau and Art Deco
16. Avant-garde Art
17. Modern Architecture in the Machine Age
18. Late-Modern and Post-Modern Trends in Architecture
19. Art as Paradox: Transcategorical Disorder, Caprice and Ordered Chaos
20. Of Purpose in 20th-Century Art
21. Art as Development
22. Modernity, Modernism, Modern Art
23. Fauvism
24. Die Goldenen Zwanziger
25. Why was Henri Matisse a great artist?
26. Picasso and the Genesis of Cubism
27. The Cubist Constellation
28. Argentinean Visual Art: European Influences?
29. Paris Avant-Garde: Jawlensky, Modigliani, Brancusi, Soutine, and Chagall
30. Art and Ethics
31. Influential Moderns: Gauguin and Picasso
32. New Figuration: Francis Bacon's Case as a Detective Story
33. Totem, Mask, and Other Pagan Expressions of Excess
34. Transformations in Christian Art
35. From Abraham and the Idols to the Mosaic Experience with the Visual Arts
36. "O afflicted one..."



Mariano Akerman, Triad, watercolor, 1999

See also: The 12 Additional Lectures

Comments and Feedback
Jenny Naseem
Sara Mahmood
Ilona Yusuf

Letter to a ISOI Teacher

Dear Joan Lewin,

Congratulations on being recognized and prized as a Chosen Teacher of the Year as part of the Gestalt Educational Program as given by me. Your participation, enthusiasm, and ability to integrate your grade three curriculum with the concepts to which my workshop and lecture pertained are evidence of your integrity and the level of excellence that characterizes your work.

The atmosphere in your classroom and among your students and their parents was a pleasure for me to experience. Their responses to a theme such as Gestalt showed they were focused and able to make the connections from my words to the visual and to the creative.

Throughout the years that we have known each other and in which I have participated in a variety of in-class workshops with your students, I have been impressed with the way in which you have organized each session with me: taking into account your students’ varying levels of ability, developmental instructional practices or strategies, and the most appropriate arrangement of the classroom.

I look forward to our working together as we explore with your students the world of visual arts.


Thank you for inviting me to develop the Gestalt activities into your classroom and work with this year’s students and their parents as part of my fifteen lecture series as sponsored by the Embassy of Switzerland and Embassy of Germany.

Regards,
Mariano Akerman



Reference. Activities developed together at ISOI between 2010 and 2011:
1. Exploring Pictures is Cool, 16.3.2010
2. Argentinean Art, 25.10.2010
3. Pakistan Art Workshop, 10.3.2011
4. Gestalt in the Collage, 26.10.2011

Letter from the Swiss Ambassador

Dear Mr. Akerman,

On behalf of the Embassy of Switzerland I would like to extend my sincere appreciation for the time you dedicated in making the "Gestalt Program" a success. The series of 15 lectures, were truly memorable.

While focusing on the Swiss-German contribution to the theory of art and design, the program reinforced our commitment to open a window of opportunity for Pakistani audiences to enjoy and understand the contribution of Swiss-German architecture and design in the 20th century.

The opening of the Gestalt Program at the Swiss Embassy was attended by numerous representatives of the media. It was encouraging to see so much participation by lecturers at educational institutions. I am pleased that the program received good media coverage and the audience reaction was clearly enthusiastic.

The lectures presented at both Embassies received wide applause. It is indeed a great achievement that 2,500 students participated in the lecture series. The enthusiastic response of teachers and students alike was evident from the fact that you received 247 entries for the Gestalt Collage Contest. The success of the entire event testifies to the effectiveness of your presentation and exceptional teaching ability.

During the closing lecture at the German Embassy, I was impressed by the works of the young artists of Pakistan. I really appreciate your initiative and encouragement in granting prizes to the winning students in the collage contest. I believe this appreciation and recognition will greatly boost the confidence of these young Pakistani students.

I look forward to working with you in the near future and wish you all the best.

Yours sincerely,

THE AMBASSADOR OF SWITZERLAND

Christoph Bubb

Embassy of Switzerland, Islamabad

Gestalt Educational Programme concludes with Lecture and 27 Prizes

"Gestalt Educational Programme Concludes"
International The News, Pakistan, 28.11.2011, City News, p. 14

Mercedes Checa, Troya Roy, Mariano Akerman, Joan Lewin, Jenny Naseem

Our correspondent
Islamabad

The final lecture of the Gestalt Educational Programme (GEP), which was initiated about a month ago, was delivered by Argentinean architect and art historian, artist Mariano Akerman at the auditorium of the German Embassy and attended by a number of students, teachers and art aficionados.
The event also included a prize awarding ceremony to those who won the collage competition and the teachers who helped in making the programme, chalked out by the speaker, a success. The number of participants who took part in the GEP was 2,500 and it was sponsored by the embassies of Switzerland and Germany.
Titled "Functionalism and International Style in Modern Times" the lecture traced the history of the Bauhaus, a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts and was famous for the approach to modern design that it publicised and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933.

Gropius & Meyer, Bauhaus, Dessau, 1925

At that time the German term Bauhaus, literally "house of construction" stood for "School of Building." The school existed in three German cities (Weimar, Dessau and Berlin), under three different architect-directors: Walter Gropius from 1919 to 1928, Hannes Meyer from 1928 to 1930, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from 1928 to 1933 [...]. The basic concept of the Bauhaus school was simplicity [...]. [The educational institution] was founded at a time when the German Zeitgeist (spirit of the times) had turned from emotional Expressionism to matter-of-fact New Objectivity. An entire group of working architects, including Erich Mendelsohn, [...] turned away from fanciful experimentation and moved toward rational, functional, sometimes standardized building and items of daily use designed on clean and simple lines.

Studied in detail: Paul Klee's Insula dulcamara, 1938

The institutions which took part in the Programme include Islamabad College for Girls; Postgraduate College for Women, Rawalpindi; COMSATS University; Alliance Française d'Islamabad; Lahore Grammar School; International School Islamabad and National University of Modern Languages. Twelve Students received prizes for best collage [entries] in the competition: Rabeea Ahmed; Haider Abbas; Najeha Rashid; Sundas Sana; Aisha Saeed; Saba Malik; Ikram Haider; Sawera Gull; Anum Hamid; Saira Solangi; Janita Fatima and Saadia Ashrad. The teachers who were acknowledged were Hannyia Abid; Farah Nez Sheikh; Mercedes Checa; Saba Mansur; Mamoona Kahn; Abeera Zahid; Joan Lewin-Pohl; Saba Faisal; Troya Roy; Akifa Imtiaz and Huma Koya. [A special Token of Friendship was granted to Jenny Naseem, an unconditional supporter of the Gestalt Program]. Three institutions also received prizes: Islamabad College for Girls; Postgraduate College for Women, Rawalpindi and COMSATS University.
lecture over, prizes were distributed and Mariano Akerman thanked the Swiss and German envoys and embassies for their help and cooperation before refreshments were served.
Gestalt is a German word for "form" or "shape." It is used in English to refer to a concept of "wholeness."
The series of fifteen lectures explored the themes of Gestalt theory and Bauhaus design in the 1920's and aimed at sharing experience and reconsidering the interplay between tradition and modernisation.

"Gestalt Educational Programme Concludes," International The News, Pakistan, 28.11.2011, City News, p. 14
Ref. Mariano Akerman, Lecture on Modern Art and Collage Contest Prizes
German Embassy, Islamabad, 22.11.11

References
1. Gestalt Program Announcement and Brochure Online, 30.9.11
2. Islamabad, Swiss Embassy, Mariano Akerman: Bridging Cultures (excerpts from a note by Sara Mahmood), press release, 20.10.11
3. Islamabad, German Embassy in Islamabad, Integrated Whole, Experimentation and Identity, Gestalt: Theory and Design in the New Objectivity Age, 25.10.2011, ill.
4. Islamabad, Deutsche Auslandsvertretungen in Pakistan, Integriertes Ganzes, Experimentieren und Identität, Gestalt: Thorie und Gestaltung im Zeitalter der neuen Sachlichkeit, 28.10.2011, ill.
5. Ishrat Hyatt, Gestalt Programme Launching Event, International The News, 22 October 2011, City News, p. 19 (online).
6. "The Ambassador of Switzerland ... held Reception Lecture of the Gestalt Educational Program held by Architect Mariano Akerman," Diplomatic Focus, Pakistan, Vol. II, Issue 8-9, October-November 2011, p. 70, photographs by Shabbir Hussain
7. SwissPak Association
8. Almas Haider Naqvi, "Other is the Same Side of the Picture," Dataline Islamabad, 22 October 2011, p. 4, ill.
9. Maqbool Malik, "Tradition meets Modernisation," The Nation, Pakistan, 24 October 2011
10. Gauhar Zahid Malik, Embassies of Switzerland and Germany present 'Gestalt': Theory and Design in the Age of New Objectivity, Fifteen Educational Lectures by Mariano Akerman, Architect and Art Historian, Pakistan Observer, Pakistan, 3.11.11, p. 9, ill.
Ilona Yusuf, Enhancing Perception: The Gestalt Lectures and Collage Competition, Blue Chip Magazine, Issue 87, Volume 8, Islamabad, January-February 2012, pp. 16-19, ill.
Sara Mahmood, Mariano Akerman: Bridging Cultures, Blue Chip Magazine, Issue 87, Volume 8, Islamabad, January-February 2012, pp. 20-24, ill.

The Gestalt Educational Program: Facts

by Mariano Akerman



2,400 Gestalt brochures printed and given
150 press release exemplars printed and given
2,500 participants
2 embassies
7 educational Institutions
12 lectures in English, French, and Spanish
3 training sessions and workshops
1 collage exhibition, with critique
247 entries received in the Gestalt Collage Contest
50 collage entries selected
27 bags with prizes given to students, teachers, and institutions
1 virtual collage exhibition, with critique
12 collages prized
12 teachers and colleagues prized
3 educational institutions prized



12 prized students:
Rabeea Ahmed
Haider Abbas
Najeha Rashid
Sundas Sana
Aisha Saeed
Saba Malik
Ikram Haider
Sawera PGCW
Anum Hamid
Saira Solangi
Janita Fatima
Saadia Ashrad

12 prized teachers and colleagues:
Hannyia Abid
Farah Nez Sheikh
Mercedes Checa
Saba Mansur
Mamoona Kahn
Abeera Zahid
Joan Lewin-Pohl
Saba Faisal
Troya Roy
Akifa Imtiaz
Huma Koya
Jenny Naseem

3 prized institutions
Islamabad College for Girls
Post-Graduate College for Women Rawalpindi
COMSATS University



References
1. Gestalt Program Announcement and Brochure Online, 30.9.11
2. Islamabad, Swiss Embassy, Mariano Akerman: Bridging Cultures (excerpts from a note by Sara Mahmood), press release, 20.10.11
3. Islamabad, German Embassy in Islamabad, Integrated Whole, Experimentation and Identity, Gestalt: Theory and Design in the New Objectivity Age, 25.10.2011, ill.
4. Islamabad, Deutsche Auslandsvertretungen in Pakistan, Integriertes Ganzes, Experimentieren und Identität, Gestalt: Thorie und Gestaltung im Zeitalter der neuen Sachlichkeit, 28.10.2011, ill.
5. Ishrat Hyatt, Gestalt Programme Launching Event, International The News, 22 October 2011, City News, p. 19 (online).
6. "The Ambassador of Switzerland ... held Reception Lecture of the Gestalt Educational Program held by Architect Mariano Akerman," Diplomatic Focus, Pakistan, Vol. II, Issue 8-9, October-November 2011, p. 70, photographs by Shabbir Hussain
7. SwissPak Association
8. Almas Haider Naqvi, "Other is the Same Side of the Picture," Dataline Islamabad, 22 October 2011, p. 4, ill.
9. Maqbool Malik, "Tradition meets Modernisation," The Nation, Pakistan, 24 October 2011
10. Gauhar Zahid Malik, Embassies of Switzerland and Germany present 'Gestalt': Theory and Design in the Age of New Objectivity, Fifteen Educational Lectures by Mariano Akerman, Architect and Art Historian, Pakistan Observer, Pakistan, 3.11.11, p. 9, ill.
Ilona Yusuf, Enhancing Perception: The Gestalt Lectures and Collage Competition, Blue Chip Magazine, Issue 87, Volume 8, Islamabad, January-February 2012, pp. 16-19, ill.
Sara Mahmood, Mariano Akerman: Bridging Cultures, Blue Chip Magazine, Issue 87, Volume 8, Islamabad, January-February 2012, pp. 20-24, ill.

Received distinctions
Prize and certificate from the Post-Graduate College for Women Rawalpindi
Token of Friendship from COMSATS University
Prize from Alliance Française d'Islamabad