Fifteen hundred square metres of space this exhibition area in berlin to gallery has been prepared for sixteen works from the Tehran Museum of contemporary art works that have never before been shown in the west its the start of a planned Cultural Exchange intended to strengthen relations between iran and the west. But it never came to that just weeks before it was due to open authorities in iran prevented the artworks from leaving the country. Come run dba has lived in spain and france since the late one nine hundred seventy s. The architect artist and collector left his homeland a year before the iranian revolution. Dba knows the tehran collection more intimately than most for he was once closely associated with it and he still spends a lot of time thinking about whats become of it he is the architect who designed the Tehran Museum of contemporary art in the one nine hundred seventy s. Devo was also its first director the Tehran Museum of contemporary art held the largest and most valuable collection of contemporary art outside europe and north america. Tehran the capital of iran in the one nine hundred seventy s. The city experienced a Rapid Transformation into a modern metropolis western consumer goods were readily available the surge in oil prices allowed the city to become a hug for International Business and lifestyle. The only thing missing was a place to show modern art. Empress. Actively promoted culture and art in iran. Because more than mccarthy. Today she lives in paris she left iran for a life in exile on january sixteenth one thousand nine hundred seventy nine and headed to the city where she had studied architecture years earlier. Art plays an Important Role in my life and without it my life would be empty the history of iran dates back thousands of years it is a civilization rich in art and culture and it has produced many extraordinary artists in various fields of art see it architecture poetry or literature. In one thousand nine hundred sixty seven there was festival of arts was founded at the behest of embers from raw. Both iranian and International Artists were invited to take part in this unique festivals of on guard orientation attracted global attention. Was. The empress helped shape the countrys cultural policy of the day giving it a very distinct style. She she had cultural ambitions for her country. Seems. The story of the contemporary museum in tehran began when i went to an exhibition like it was where the city theater of tehran city is today i recall the artists i ran dire rooty saying to me it would be nice if there was a place of our works would be preserved forever. Q karo me mood where i hamish i think back when i got the idea of creating a museum for iranian artists you need a solution. Irani. It was not the only museum she had built but it was the most important one. Architect come run dba had just completed his studies in washington d. C. He spent a lot of time thinking about a contemporary art museum in tehran as her cousin he was close to empress faraj she commissioned him to design the museum. My. Memory is some of the money. In terms of architecture i was interested in finding an identity. And. One of the building to have an Iranian Forces no i cant think of the persian word for it. But yes i would say identity is the proper word im. Not. Anti. Isnt simply. By very much one of the museum to reflect a sense of iranian identity. In. The they in my design the building so that the museum with its light in lets see you should be reminiscent of desert town thats. Because they tend to have very interesting routes and they have bugbear wind towers and domes like you see on mosques that leave. The building was built on a site surrounded by an unfinished park. In the center of the museum and visible from all parts of the Main Building spiral walkway is oil pool a sculpture by japanese artist nora yuki hart a gucci. Reflected light gives it the look of a dark mirror. It was installed in one thousand nine hundred seventy seven. Who. Come around often talks about the past with his family and friends. He met his wife in the Tehran Museum she worked there as a curator who. Could write this but the shiny thank you. Card and when word got around it and prison the arabian government and the shah were buying our. Members of the art world naturally approach them to suggest works to buy a rand was very wealthy at the time and the International Art market was out a low point. Some of the works proposed were selected in part of this room and. That. Eventually the collection grew to include well over three thousand works by both iranian and International Artists painting such as mural on in the in red ground by jackson pollack found their way there. Along with works by brock. Rauschenberg. And many others. Financed by petrol dollars from the sale of oil its total cost is still a mystery but the criticism that iran spent too much money on art continues to annoy come run dba to this day how do you do you mind chatter that and how much transactions were completely above board. That im resist. If you john someone recently claimed that they had all the purchase receipts at the moment and. Someone else said the museum had lost them all. But i still have them the stuff i can get them from the library. The other. Atheists. Here is the list of everything i bought everything is listed here. Every work purchased while i was director of the museum is recorded here and one here its a matter. Cameron dba mainly bought works by contemporary american artists at prices that are absurdly low by todays standards. So. The total amount spent on art purchases while he was the Museum Director was about three and a half Million Dollars. This is three or so and this is right to be done and well it was a fortune but has now multiplied in value. At that time i was fortunate to have had the chance to meet some of the artists myself and for example i met some guys in the south of france fire was and henry more the more they were hard yes warhol it was very interesting to see warhol he came to iran and made portraits of the shah and a few others he was a very quiet and gentle man a little shy but we had a good reporter. Who we brought him down. Almost forty years ago on the morning of the day the museum was to be opened in tehran come runty but woke up with his heart pounding he was nervous it was supposed to be a major event. He wanted to celebrate a festival of art as well as demonstrate irans ability to hold its own on the International Level. It was the evening of october thirteenth one nine hundred seventy seven. The date marked both foreign poll avis birthday and the opening of the museum in tehran. The leader. Of unguarded artists from all over the world gave performances. Was working as a photographer in the museum. So you had me at that time it all seemed so new to me and somewhat bizarre never mind what it was like for the general public with no relation to it. On the pictures i took at that time you can see there stunned reactions while i was taking pictures i realized what a wide gulf there was between this of unguarded lete and average citizens back so that was more than the population would accept at that time i wanted to capture all the reactions both from the intellectuals who were taking part in the celebrations and from those who were observing the event from the outside and did not understand what was going on. The pictures on talkback they have never been shown in public anything showing the monarchy had to be after the revolution and remain so to this day. And there is yet another reason why there are no pictures of the opening night. When the shah arrived he dipped his hand into the pool of oil his hands got dirty everyone stood there and shark until farrar started to laugh then everyone laughed and things quieted down again. But afterwards all the negatives of the pictures taken that evening were collected and destroyed because this moment was not meant to be recorded. The secret service saw to that. Youre go green. The fact that the shows hand has been dirtied with oil. Could be seen as a symbolic historical event because oil had polluted Iranian Society. Ive never thought that they were not in ecological terms. But in the sense that a lot of money came into society and upset the existing class system. Which i the iranian revolution started in one nine hundred seventy eight. The common card was no longer received with approval. I. Millions took to the streets of tehran in support of their new leader they saw him as their liberator from the shahs dictatorship. Was. On february first one nine hundred seventy nine the figurehead of the revolution the Ayatollah Khomeini return to iran from exile in paris from then on Everything Associated with the west was condemned banished and destroyed those who escaped were concerned about the part they had just won. But what no one knew was someone was watching over it. Its nice to see them ive heard about him i was so happy about it he was really someone who looked after the pictures. Every day for almost forty years. Has been walking down the long corridor to the basement of. Tehran museum of contemporary art. Under the shah he had been employed there as a driver. Because over. Every day there were demonstrations against the shah here. A lot of students were on the street the campus is close by. We saw it all on the eleventh of february nine hundred seventy nine the revolution triumphed. Then a few came from the revolutionary committee used yes i think thats what it was called back then but im no longer exactly sure and they occupied the museum they told my coworkers they could leave everyone else went home much i was the one they kept on with the honest. About me and i knew nothing about heart but i realized that when they put me in charge of this treasure i had to pull myself together and take good care of it. And it could. Max and monet rothko and. At first for russia bassy saw their works as little more than paint on canvas. Months by that mission after my ignorance led me to acquire as much knowledge as i could of course i knew nothing about art either. But if i try to obtain information from different books there was no internet back then. I had to search through books for days just to get a Little Information about a work eventually i would find something and document it for the museum. Child whos me i shit im human im just happy im. Probably the most precious piece in the vault is jackson pollocks mural on indian red ground its estimated to be worth as much as two hundred fifty Million Dollars and is considered one of pollocks greatest works. Shahbazi the driver watched over one of the worlds most valuable Art Collections. Its value today is estimated at around three billion dollars. Called up my. Daughter gave me the courage to carry out this task in this way. These are tears of joy im simply happy well i wish i may not have been a good person to god. God was good to me for putting me here today. I apologize for the tears i cant control myself yes. Please forgive me. This treasure is so incredibly important to me. Sure there are only a few people here in the museum know how much i love this treasure also much. Iran is coming back to life after years of sanctions against the country and its nuclear program. The Historic Nuclear Agreement was signed in july twenty fifth team most of the sanctions were lifted as a result Iranian Society was keen to reengage with the world and gain respect. It was an opportunity to resume the cultural dialogue. The outstanding collection of contemporary american and european art hidden in the basement of the Tehran Museum was widely talked about this even in the past museums had tried to show irans contemporary Art Collection but mutual trust had to be built. In the end berlin was chosen to present the western masterpieces and works by iranian artists plans were made to mount the exhibition in the camilla gallery it was a sensational coup for the german capital. As concert began yes it all started as a joint venture between two museums our National Gallery and the t. M. O. C. A. Interrogatively the auto painter exhibition was curated by the Deputy Director of the National Gallery if you are him yet. God and he came into contact with colleagues that t. M. O. C. A. Hes above all however he came into contact with the collection dozens of its incredible potential was just slumbering in the basement submitted of course the support of the German Foreign office was vital from the very beginnings as makings aunts. Thirty works by International Artists from the tehran collection were to be shown as well as thirty works by Twentieth Century iranian artists. In spite of all the restrictions iran still has more artists today than ever before. Here at one of tehrans most renowned art schools the majority of students are women a development that demonstrates the extent to which women have become emancipated over the past thirty eight years despite all the restrictions they have won their place in the Islamic Republic in the past only two to three women would be present at an art lecture. Irans most famous sculptor remembers it all well. Parviz town of ali teaches here at the mom their institute of art in tehran one of his sculptures was to be sent to the exhibition in berlin. For him an essential aspect of the exhibition was to show the mutual influence of already and and oxidant. Proud of how india toggle flipout hard to get you on your back its about the intersections between iranian and western culture give us our workers often influenced by western schools because we didnt have our own tradition of sculpture. So we had a poetic and literary tradition but we had very little tradition when it comes to spatial content except in architecture that. You know on their mentality today is very iranian. Todays iranian woman wants to express herself to show herself in the best possible light. Is. There any chance when i turn forty or fifty years ago that didnt exist i mean everyone was emulating the west. Today theyre proud of themselves and that is a good thing so they used techniques his instruments for their works. But they want to express their own feelings. One of us where you call your office and this is an interconnection a marriage between iran and the west between east and west. Yorks is there was a jewish. Shot of. This is the. Target yet today more than ever the children of the revolution are emancipating themselves and questioning their role and that of the Islamic Republic not let. This pass the law that or ask our generation dares to show itself more we women want to prove that if you men are allowed to have your way and do whatever you want and we women can do the same even though we have no place to do it well take it anyway yes our generation is definitely more rebellious. By mischance thats the only adult to us are the brown strands or my mothers hair all the rest is mine. Don raises the question of what happens when you go out onto the streets in tehran wearing a headscarf made up your own hair or harm someone even though so well is that really be a problem or harm to our project is to get people to think about that. Before seven oclock because the exiled matter they decide that. This is. The new generation has become more courageous the art scene in particular has felt the limits of the Islamic Republic since its foundation sometimes the artists moose sometimes they win. To me. It was ok im going to die the new generation is more creative than before and everyone can express themselves as they wish to loan it as a new kind of freedom of independence from e. U. Theres now a large group which they have to belong to yes. That is a Cherry Blossom that you see before the revolution in the one nine hundred fifty s. And sixtys. There was a period in which our painters were proud to look to the west. At that time our good artists went abroad to italy france. When they came back they were happy and proud to say they had studied says and picasso or monet as this they were proud to say they were impressionists that they could paint like impressionists. Then came a time when iranian artists became aware of the issues in their country they wanted to express themselves through iranian thanks after the revolution many artists became revolutionaries. Other than they were artists who took part in the revolution. And wanted to express things related to it you know. The money and a lot more bloodshed and society so. They were politically minded as you all see without a doubt hes. Parviz tone of only is for milieu with the experiences of iranian artists in recent decades. He is one of the most prominent internationally as well. He wants to teach his students it is not the iranian in their work that makes them artists but the art they carry within themselves. As more yet one of the focuses less on trying to get an iranian artist out of us than on trying to get us out of us he wants to know what were capable of what makes up our essence. He wants to know why we should be turned into a new artist he wants to know whats inside of us and wants us to represent exactly that he has made it possible for us to believe in ourselves back in college and very much in love and get a job. Now the works are being taken from the vault and taken abroad and shown in berlin in addition to berlin they could be exhibited in many other places these works are very pure and untouched they show a new perspective they show how people in iran thought thirty years ago and which works of art they collected to influence the next generations culture i get asked i am assessments that are asked. With thirty iranian and thirty western works of berlin exhibition was also to be an opportunity to reveal the observers established patterns of perception thats one ton of only was hoping for. One katrina horse ride im very happy about it i think its a good step with you know so it would be a pity to keep these works in prison without anyone being aware of their existence you know matters any musician has a painter in a museum vault for years and never got out its a good thing that not only the iranian people can see them but the whole world and the. So opens the door to Cultural Exchange when we acquired these works everyone thought that iran was a third world country and not worthy of art or to hide the money you dont have a fake me caravan you dont. You know sort of. Even forty years ago iran was already seeking acceptance on an International Level and looking to free itself from western influences. Ton of only his guiding principle is an artist doesnt have to adhere to western ways of seeing in order to be an artist. And artists should not seek acceptance from outside himself neither from orient nor oxidant. From. The date of the berlin opening was approaching increasing media interest fueled criticism of the Cultural Exchange with the Islamic Republic from various quarters. One accusation was that germany would be giving iran money through the pressure and Cultural Heritage foundation. Was and is indeed the worlds major museums pay low ratings when loan fiends are expected then we say ok sorry were out of that was clear to us from the outset and we quickly made it clear to our iranian colleagues that this is not about known fees but about a serious calculation of an exhibition of this kind you know. All the artworks being brought to berlin that dated from before nine hundred forty five were also checked for prominence. Pat singer the president of the pression Cultural HeritageFoundation Also had to deal with assertions that some of the works in iran were forgeries. And wed heard that some works had allegedly been replaced with forgeries over the decades and that the originals had been sold for huge sums of money but you cant just say that these are bandits so its hard to say anything about them at all because of the importance of these works if they were to be sold abroad whether to museums or private parties id find it very hard to believe that you wouldnt hear anything about it you know during prepacked visits one of optics to when you feel that. In tehran preparations continue despite growing criticism of the Cultural Exchange this sculpture parviz ton of ali is destined for berlin. Re store. And a few of her colleagues from the gmail to gallery were sent to the iranian capital to prepare three particularly problematic works for transport to berlin. Did cause a lot for the castle which i have now prepared that needed to be nearly mounted in its frame then it needed vibration protection that something put between the rear surface and the canvas to prevent or reduce vibrations during transport all thats been taken care of and the condition of the work recorded prior to its dispatch to germany this before the spec cost. One cuts yes existing or potential damage is noted in advance from toms fought. Fiercely monken order and. A climate resistant shipping crate is custom made for each priceless work of art theyre designed to prevent any further damage to the unique pieces. Punish russia cannot confirm the claims that the art was not properly stored. Down here in the basement she is reminded of the vaults of the National Gallery and berlin. Theres an air conditioner so that much i can say and i mean all this has obviously been dormant for a long time you can see that they havent been moved much its all a bit neglected and dusty but by and large the collection is in Good Condition someone has been looking after it lost. In berlin advance ticket sales had already begun in spite of rumors that conservative circles in iran were against the project but that didnt diminish the Public Interest in fact on the contrary. Does interest and all the interest in this exhibition is tremendous that is clear and it comes from different places as you can also see that very clearly its on the one hand simply seeing these warhols and hence in some rothkos they are really so important in the history of art especially that of the second half of the Twentieth Century and theyll finally be seen again because thats one thing it is and then of course there is already such a special interest in the fact that it comes from iran and of course then you think back to the shahs time when the collection originated the works from this museum have a great history is mathieson backing. Difficult and. Expectations for this Cultural Exchange were high and not just in germany. Preparations were in full swing for the eagerly awaited opening day. All the difficulties it seems had been resolved and everyone had great hopes for their own form of dialogue between cultures. But then things suddenly took a turn for the worse the pression Cultural Heritage foundation cancelled the exhibition. For once with us from india machine in the end it became increasingly difficult for us because everything that needed to be resolved the selection of the works questions about transport and insurance etc had been resolved but in order to actually start the ball rolling so to speak to begin packing them for transport we needed export permits and they were not issued in time but thats when we said it was now impossible for us to do any further planning under such conditions this was a meeting which mcleish. I believe that this exhibition had to come about this dialogue between western art of the Twentieth Century and the iranian art of the Twentieth Century would have changed perceptions of iran in germany and europe and among the public this is a ticket i think you have to do away with stereotypes there is the stereotype of a regime of a political constitution but of course a society is also made up of people and societies are usually much more colorful action and shock and it is a shift isnt it if you. Engage in a discourse that does not make the world less secure or more warlike but actually makes it more peaceful him eventually leads to more understanding only happens through the understanding of people and societies in different countries. Fasten your seat belts. Her. To go. Look at this. She can. Travel guard double. Climate change. Waste. Pollution safety. Isnt it time for good. Eco africa people and projects that are changing our firemen for the better its up to us to make a difference lets inspire others to. Become an environment magazine. On d w. Film something types of foreign buyers came from jurors or didnt have any and i killed many civilians i mean. Come on including my father. Says i was a student i wanted to build a life for myself. But suddenly life became malinche kind of sob. Providing insights for global news that matters d. W. Me for minds. This is d w news from berlin tonight taking action against russia u. S. President donald trump dogs the unexpected with the very expected trump says hell impose a fresh thing. For meddling in the twenty sixteen president ial election and then to his show of solidarity with the u. K. As one of the cues is russia of a chemical weapons attack last week also coming out thousands of syrians flee besieged eastern as go