the Tehran thing

Last year Neema Ba did his Masters at School of Arts. He got introduced by Stefaan Dheedene, did his stage at croxhapox.
At the end of that period, early summer last year, he curated a project on Iran video art. It had three days, early summer, no one around but some of the students and visitors without clear summer schedule. A brilliant project.
I remember Neema Ba, Zappa lookalike, and his idea of doing some art space in Kerman. I invited him to do a large scale project on Iran video art, apart from the idea to invite him for a solo project.
We had HOST then, initiated by Atelier Concorde, a Lisbon art space run by Pedro Faria. The Lisbon project somehow failed and Neema Ba got invited to have his second version of POV during that period.
We bought tickets for Neema Ba and Maryam, far in advance, scheduled a residence, made all the required documents.
Joris phoned the Embassy in Tehran. New documents were made, signed, stamped and send to the authority who finally didn't want Neema Ba to pass the border. The Belgian Embassy in Tehran or Brussels? Without comment it goes. Bulgarian and Russian criminals infiltrate the country. These people sleep in straight theme-schedule, get to all and everything. An artist from Kerman has less.