A snapshot of hundred years
Face to face with the memory of Hassan Moghadam
I'm trying. But I haven't seen you yet. But it will be alright. Sit on that stool for now... Did you sit down? ... it’s good. Relax. Let me turn off one of the lamps... Yes, I saw you. I saw. But you’re still blurry. Turn slightly to the right. its better now. And it is better not to move too much. so how are you? If I asked you to come here, it is because I now believe in direct photography. Even if it's not very reliable, which I try for it to be. This way, at least I know what I’m doing with it. That is, if I think, therefore I exist, it's better for you to exist because I think you are. Not just because you were present and how you were and so on. Unless I want to go back to the past, but I don't want to. I don't want to get stuck in the past; both of us. Now please don't move. It’s good. look at my hand Here. hold your head up higher. Yes, Don't blink please. It’s good. You can relax now. But don't move too much for now. Until my eyes get used to you, it is better not to go out of the angle. are you ready? Time zero, we start. name?
- hasan.
+ known as?
- Moghaddam
+ Hasan Moghadam ... father's name?
- so. What do you mean by we both get stuck in the past?
+ just so. father's name?
- no that doesn’t work. Just so is not an answer.
+ Well, to make the work beautiful.
- how is that related?
+ stop, you are not supposed to ask questions.
- There is no other time.
+ see I just said that an artistic photo is a photo that at least is not stuck in the past. Now father's name?
- Mohammad Taqi Khan ehtesab almolk
+ date of birth?
- Is the past a hole?
+ Did I say so?!
- I understood so.
+I said that a good photo means this. That’s all.
- OK. But you didn't talk about this part.
+ Oh come on! You know better. If understanding the beauty of a work means beholding the passage of time, it means grasping the future in the present, not stablishing the present in the past.
- Or currently, searching in the past.
+ ok finished, birth?
- Tehran, what does this have to do with aesthetics?
+ Why do you think curved lines are more beautiful than broken lines?
- More beautiful? I have never thought about it.
+ Now I ask you. Is it?
- It depends where.
+ Wherever. It may not be more needed. But it is more beautiful.
- Why is that?
+ Because if a curved line changes its path at any moment, the new path is determined in the previous path.
- It means that it’s path is predictable.
+ That's it.
- What does this have to do with aesthetics?
+ It must have something to do with it
- The fact that you can predict the next path at any moment of the curved path by referring to the current path is beauty.
+ that’s it! The joy you get from beauty is the joy of capturing the future in the present. Birth?
- Tehran. That is, the understanding of the beauty of the curved movement goes back to the pleasure of beholding the flow of time and grasping the future in the present.
+ its done.
- But this possibility exists in any rhythm without necessarily being artistic.
+ The difference is that art convinces you to forget that this current path was also your previous pre supposed position on the same curve.
- So you always owe that curve.
+ That curve gives you the pleasure of predicting the future.
- His own future.
+The future is a common thing.
- But you sympathize with the passivity that it has expressed!
+ That is the only right that an artist has. Birth?
- Tehran. Anyway, it's your opinion.
+ This is your act too. Birth?
- are you deaf?
+ huh? ... No. say the date.
- 1277
+ Lunar?
- Solar
+ Seven by seven, seventy by seventy... so you passed the hundred.
- not completely
+ How much is left?
- why do you want to know?
+ I want to come to the celebration to eat cake.
- A couple of months is left.
+ What exactly is "a couple of mounth", say two months. If it is two and a half months, say come in two and a half months.
- Okay. Come whenever you are hungry.
+ ok Let's go on for now. Death?
- 1304
+ that’s so early.
- Didn't you know?
+ I did, cause of death?
- disease
+Westernization?
- no. tuberculosis.
+ Ah yes... the place of death?
- Switzerland
+ Which city?
- Leysin.
+Burial place?
- grave yard!
+ You are right. It was a ridiculous question. Iran?
- Switzerland.
+ No, it was not so ridiculous question. Well...so, marital status?
- Single
+ Nothing?!
- nothing.
+ that means nothing ever happened?
- What do you mean?!
+Think a little. start with "G".
- Gilbert was my fiance.
+ Were you classmates at first?
- mmm. Later, when she found out that I was sick, she came to me.
+ Did you love her?
- Why did you start from the end?!
+So who was the Leucine, in Egypt?
- We were friends. with her and her mother.
+Was there no one else?
-if you don't know it, it's like it didn't happen.
+Of course it is none of my business.
- How much I wanted this proverb to be true; It is enough for a woman to be beautiful so she profits from a bit of intelligence at least.
+ Well, this is your opinion... the part of child remains empty...
- to hell with it!
+ I wasn't talking to you ... 1277 solar, let me see, he was a genius, what does it mean?
- genius?!
+ They say that so-and-so was a genius, for example.
- well, they say that.
+ they don’t say it for nothing.
- are you sure?
+ No.
- So let it go.
+ Were you a genius?
- oh come on, is it important?
+ No. So let's skip the birthday?
- Man should love his father because his father gave him life. what does it mean?
+I don't know
- Does that mean the Wheat must also love the farmer who planted it?!
+ Wheat is different from people.
- what's the difference?
+They plant wheat at the beginning, people at the end. Tell me about your father.
- There are men who resemble an open door.
+ how much did you study?
- Four years in Iran, eleven years in Switzerland.
+ Why Jafar Khan come from abroad ( one of his books)?
- It was his homeland!
+ No, why did you write it?
- I saw a lot of destruction around me.
+Why theater ?
- one can communicate better with people with the performance language.
+ How do you know?
- The majority of Iranian people like performance. The success of my stories is that there are always some people listened to them being told. And we have to do something to change the public's desire to listen to storytelling, to watching actors play.
+ How do you think performances should be?
- We must show works that are close to people's lives, and also the make the audience realize the ugliness of their wrong actions without having to give them advice.
+ Is it true that your Jafar Khan opened people to the theater?
- That was my goal. Until then, the mass did not see performances.
+ What do you think about the attraction?
- You can think about it in the next centuries.
+What color do you like the most?
- What do you think?
I haven't thought about it. What food do you like the most?
- ghormehsabzi( traditional Iranian dish)
+ Who is your best friend?
- TutanKhamun
+ but he has germs!
- he did. Because it was just discovered.
+ Why didn't you listen to people around you?
- It was superstition.
+But it contaminated you.
- that was not superstition.
+How long were you in his tomb?
- three hours.
+You were careless. did you take a picture?
- I did.
+You also got tuberculosis.
- ...
+You shouldn't have got that.
- What was the difference?
+ You had a lot of unfinished work.
- There is always work.
+ But twenty-seven years is too little.
- Who knows?
+ You wrote in French before hedayat.
- There is always someone before the others.
+ Freud, Gide, Tagore, knew you.
-It was enough to be a writer so that many people know you there.
+ You knew the theater.
- kind of.
+How many languages did you know?
- what do you want to say?!
+ Why didn't you listen to others?
- It was superstition.
+ But it contaminated you.
- That was not superstition!
+ You were playing around.
- When I came out of that tomb, I felt proud. Many of my friends said shouldn’t have done that. But I told them with a sneer that nothing has happened. But it was not that simple. It seems that fate had a different plan for me.
+Why Egypt at all?
- I became the third deputy of the Iranian embassy in Cairo.
+ You had an influential father.
- He was a courtier, in Qajar period.
+ You were rich
- Wealth is not a sign of merit.
+ That is the name of one of your articles.
- Yes, it was published in the French press.
+You started writing articles very early on.
- From that studying period.
+ Why did you write mostly in French?
+Citoyen du monde
+ citizen of the world?
- a writer or an artist does not belong to a specific country or continent.
+ Did you bring up the citizen of the world yourself for the first time?
-It was Romain Rolland's 60th birthday.
+ Citoyan du monde, i like that.
- The title of Romain Rolland's congress became "A citizen of the World". Heh!
+ You became famous with this article.
- I was supposed to be the first Iranian writer to become world famous.
+ They celebrate your birthday. That is very good.
- that’s your opinion.
+Do you want us to celebrate your 100th anniversary?
- do it
+ you are laughing. is it Ridiculous?
- If I laugh at the man I used to be, it is to prove to myself that I am better than him today.
+ But what is more important than proving yourself is that what you really are, which is stable.
- I understand, but what is important to people is not the truth, it is a truth like. Even that is something to discuss!
+ Many people doubt you for these words.
- Many people got skeptical not because they understood that the depth of things is unattainable, but because of their weak personality and degradation of their mentality.
+ So why do you say do it when I talk about celebration.
- The people of Iran have too much sorrow.
+Do you have a message for them?
- Of course I am not worthy enough to!... What is that smell?! it bothers me.
+ Cyanide.
- What?!
+ for the photos to appear. It’s the best.
- But that leaves nothing from the owner of the photo!
+ Well something better has not been found yet. Cyanide is still the best emerging material.
- the smell bothers me. I'm sick
+It's better to not move too much. You don't have much time. Start.
- start what?
+ Ah! You’re In a congress, for example. Of your century.
- Ridiculous!
+ it is not an impossible assumption. Say hello first.
- to whom?!
+ to the audience.
- Everyone is absent here!
+ This is a habit. But I will register you. move one.
- What does my words mean to you? I died seventy years ago.
+Don't worry. as if seventy years have not passed. We understand what ever you say. Even if seven hundred years had passed...
- Do you want to be advised?
+ its not something I want.
- So who wants it? You have been advised for seven thousand years. So what?
+ another year on top of that.
- Then go to Saadi.
+ I am not really attached to being educated.
- Well, bring Ferdowsi.
+ epic?!
- growth
+ muscle growth. its better now.
- Maybe more suitable, but better?! ... Hafez is too romantic.. my heart aches. stop.
+ its cyanide effect. There’s no other way. A better one has not been found yet.
- what do you want to do?!
+ Start with a sentence about yourself.
- What is the difference?
+someone who doesn't know might think they became a barrier for us.
- Do you know someone bigger than them to brag about?
+I don't, I am proud, yes. But why don't we bring them out from the past ? why Don't we bring them forward?
- We are the ones who are stagnant. Is this what you want to hear from me?
+ I want to know why no one continued your way? Why were you left behind? And Whenever someone comes, it ends quickly. Then we go back. and we brag.
- each person can just be himself. Every star is twinkles in its own way. But you see stars in the sky every night. hold your head up
+Yes, we all became astronomers. All looks at the sky.
- I have to go now. Im bleeding.
+its from Cyanide - I'm sorry, a better one hasn't been found yet - and if I tell you, you can’t get out of here?
- what does that mean?!
+ That means I will register you here. You have to endure.
- So that pit you mentioned and that...
+ that’s different. What if your picture is nothing but yourself? you said it.
- you mean?
+ Well, I’m who is appearing your picture. what does it mean?
- Did you make me stuck here?! damn it!
+ we can try. move.
- ...
+shake
- I can not! What did you do?!
+I took a picture. That’s all.
- I became a photo!!
+hmmmm
- That was not what we agreed on.
+there was no agreement.
- So those words!
+ Forget it. you can do it. You have to get used to it.
- I can not!! This continuity makes me sick!
+ So finish it.
- me?! What can I do?!
+ You haven't pulled away yet. Is this good or bad? Make up your mind.
- I pulled away! Let me go!
+ Can you prove it?
- Why is there a need for that?!
+ This image is incomplete.
- Because nothing has changed. Is it proved?!!
+ Nope, not enough.
- to hell with it!! I want to go. please. That horrible shit is destroying my chest.
+ I want to make you appear
- That is cyanide!!!
+ sorry A better one has not been found yet.
- Don't come forward!!
+ So do it yourself. It’s the anniversary. Start.
- stop! I have said what I had to say.
+ I can hear well, yell. Dear ladies...
- Dear Ladies and Gentlemen.
+Louder, dear ladies!!
-Dear ladies!!
+ Ah... that’s it.
- Honorable gentlemen, please be kind to your humble servant for the few minutes of him bothering your ears with his words!! ...
+ Forgive!!
- Of course, this humble servant knows very well that if the Supreme Beings have made the effort of bringing their enlightened existence to this place, it is not to listen to nonsense and meaningless words. Therefore, he apologizes again and promises to be brief. Of course, to the extent that the words of the people of the East are valid and to the summarizing ability of an Iranian-born person who has the opportunity to give a speech ... I can't do it anymore!
+It is possible!!
- First of all, this humble servant has dared….kisses the feet of dear lords and ladies.
+Is your chest bothering you or what?! ...
- that the credit of the name of the strength of their arms and the light of their noses from grace...
+ blood is coming out of your eyes! It’s not tears is it?!
- They have spent time on preparing this small celebration. Your situation is not better than mine.
+ Yes, a better one has not been found yet. continue.
- to hell with all that appearing thing. Then this pathetic insect this low being begs the high authorities to allow him to talk with them for sixty seconds about the entertainment program that..might….
+ bring happiness to the public!!
- The few tools and materials that the experts in the preparation of this assembly had at their disposal did not allow those artistic treasures that they had to.. .
+ To the fascinated eyes... to the eyes, hurry up, we don't have much time. If you don't speak in this ceremony, we will have to wait another hundred years.
- present to your fascinated eyes and ears... but God is strong and the sweetness of life is so captivating that I expect the promise of a tomorrow... this...
+ This unmerited being guesses that among ...
-Among the high officials, there are few people who really love Iranian literature. And…and
+ And therefore, he imagines that if they have given us...
- They have given us the honor to be at their presence, is a reason to love literature...
+ But this ungrateful beggar... will not continue his stupidity to the point where...
- to declares that he is aware of this matter and...
+ will let assume that...
- that the rare presence of you precious being is a clear sign of...
+ Your interest...
-to retreat.. Goals...
+ ... and reaching your purpose ...
- And position... is work...
+ that...
All the scattered references in this text is to Hassan Moghadam's biography and some of his speeches are taken from the book "Hasan Moghadam and Jafar Khan comes from abroad" written by Ismail Jamshidi, Zarin Publications, Spring 2017.
Jalal Tehrani.