The document outlines a series of cultural activities and lectures led by artist and educator Mariano Akerman, focusing on the interplay of tradition and innovation in visual arts during 2017-2018. It explores various themes such as Catholic art, the Jewish experience with the arts, and the influence of Francis Bacon, while emphasizing the importance of expressing cultural identity through art. Akerman, an Argentinean painter and architectural historian, aims to foster dialogue and reflection through educational initiatives that engage diverse participants.

1. Art will offer to contemplation that which man cannot find in action:
the union of life and peace. —André Maurois
Tradition and Innovation: Meeting the Visual Arts
Artworks as Expressive Interdisciplinary Structures
Mariano Akerman
Architect | Painter | Art Historian
Jerusalem – The Holy Land, 2017/2018
Meeting the Visual Arts
Bar Ilan University Baroque: Catholic Art Counter-Reformation Times
History Department Sunday, 22 January 2017 – 2 pm
Ramat Gan
Ginot HaYir The Jewish Experience with the Visual Arts
Community Center Wednesday, 1 March 2017 – 10:30 am
Lycée Français L’art et moi : expression, stratégie
de Jérusalem et manipulation dans l'art contemporain
Tuesday, 7 March 2017 – 1:30 pm
Beit HaKerem Spiritual Texture: Artwork by Mariano Akerman
Community Center Thursday, 25 May 2017 – 7 pm
University of Haifa Metamorphosis of the Other in the Artistic Game
Art History Department of Francis Bacon: To Be and Not to Be
Monday, 12 June 2017 – 11:45 am
Museum of Sciences Tradition and Innovation in Belgian Art: Masterpieces
Mimesis and Fantasy
Thursday, 13 July 2017 – 8 pm
Hebrew University Schapiro: “Style,” 1953
of Jerusalem Wednesday, 13 December 2017 – 1 pm
Art History Department
À la Page, Jadis et aujourd’hui : art et identité dans le pays du
Revue Culturelle lait et du miel
de Langue Française Monday, 15 March 2018 – 7 pm
Institut Français Entre ciel et terre : un voyage à travers l’art français I
de Jérusalem Tuesday, 27 March 2018 – 6:30 pm
Romain Gary
Résidence Beaux-Arts : Bruxelles fin de siècle
de Belgique Wednesday, 28 March 2018 – 6:30 pm
Centre Culturel Entre ciel et terre : un voyage à travers l’art français II
de Jérusalem Thursday, 29 March 2018 – 7 pm
Chateaubriand
Bar Ilan University Hijos de mezcla, “sangre manchada”: la pintura de
History Department castas dieciochesca como estructura significativa
Sunday, 8 May 2018 – 4 pm

2. Tradition and Innovation: Meeting the Visual Arts
Developed in the Holy Land, the 2017-2018 cultural activities have been
conceived as a collaborative educational program, being this based on the
interplay between the notions of heritage and inventiveness.
The phenomenology of tradition and innovation is approached through a
series of art lectures and activities that answer local educational needs and
requests.
Along the program, Mariano Akerman explores the similarities and
differences between Mannerist and Baroque imagery in Catholic culture; the
evolution of the Jewish experience with the arts along the ages; the difficulties
and clichés that prevail in contemporary art; visual expressions he created
himself since 1981 on; the surprising transformations of the Other in the
paintings of Francis Bacon; a group of Belgian pictures where mimesis and
fantasy seem to complement each other; Schapiro’s influential writings of 1953
reclaiming a social history of art, the influence of such concept on next
generation, and its possible validity; the way our perception and understanding
of an artwork changes with the time; Fin-de-siècle symbolism in French and
Belgian pictures and artifacts; and a vivid recollection about the art of teaching
while respecting the student’s right to take time as he/she learns.
As a program, Meeting the Visual Arts entails discovering artworks as
expressive interdisciplinary structures that succeed in opening the valves of
feeling, reflection, and dialogue.
Mariano Akerman
Researcher and Lecturer
Born in Buenos Aires in 1963, Mariano Akerman is an Argentinean painter, architect,
and art historian. As a researcher and lecturer, he develops educational activities that
encourage free expression and communitarian participation considering the specificities
and cultural background of the participants.
In 1982 Akerman undertook his studies in Architecture at the Universidad de
Belgrano, where he graduated with a prized work on Space Nature and Architectural
Boundaries (1987). After having received a grant from the British Council, Akerman
wrote a thesis on The Grotesque in Francis Bacon’s Paintings (Suma cum laude, 1999).
Since 1981 Akerman gives lectures in educational institutions, among which the
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, Casa Argentina in Jerusalem, The
Museum of Philippines in Manila, the Scandinavian School Hooptes Stajärna in Taytay,
the National Academy of Arts in Lahore, the COMSATS University in Islamabad, the
Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto Cervantes, and the
Pontifícia Universidade Católica in the cultural capital of Brazil.
Specialized in Visual Communication, Mariano Akerman gives series of lectures
often in cooperation with the embassies and consulates of Belgium, Sweden, France,
Germany, Switzerland, and those of his native country. Akerman received twelve
international prizes in art and education.
Tradition and Innovation: Meeting the Visual Arts
Mariano Akerman, Preliminary drawing for Peace, 1994
New connections emerge as he bridges cultures in unexpected ways.
Sara Mahmood, describing Akerman’s modus operandi, 2012
Artworks as Expressive Interdisciplinary Structures
http://akermariano.blogspot.com/2017/03/art.html