A longstanding participant

A longstanding participant in the Tehran art scene says that, while it sounds Orwellian, in reality there are ways of operating. "There is a sense from the authorities that art does its own thing," she explains. "It's about staying at the edge of the red lines. Everyone finds a way of coping with it. Yes, there's the sense that someone is checking you out: someone can come in, even off the street, and they can be a hardliner and complain about the show and things can get nasty, but it rarely happens. For every piece that is not shown, there are 1,000 others that are."