What a party! For three nights in a row, dancers, performers, half-naked figures in shaggy red costumes and fantastic creatures shackled to one another writhed through the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA) while scantily clad men danced in front of a painting by Picasso. In the midst of it all were the Shah and his wife FarahDiba, Empress of Iran and initiator of the museum. While Iran’s ruler had more of a penchant for tanks and fast cars, he joined his wife for a night at the museum – and an embarrassing moment. That night in 1977 was like no other in Iran, before or after. Celebrities from around the world – including the US vice president – traveled to Tehran for the opening of a museum designed to be a symbol, putting the country – oriented toward the West at that time – firmly on the map of international art, and amazing the world with a unique collection. Undocumented fauxpas “I was very young and at the time, I didn’t know much about the art being celebrated there,” says Jila Dejam, who had the only official license to take photos at the museum. She shudders, however, when remembering the…