'My Mind is Burning' was the act of granting cultural asylum to artist Cheikh papa Sakho, and initiated the fourth stage of Almost Real on Hospitality.
Papa Sakho, a migrant from Senegal, survived the fire in the Schiphol detention centre in October 2005. After this ordeal, Papa Sakho was moved to a migrant detention centre in Groningen where, nearly a year after the fire, he was still awaiting the government's verdict on his right to become a legal Dutch resident. Aware of Papa Sakho's case, media activist and member of the Blue House Jo van der Spek asked the Blue House to give cultural asylum to Papa Sakho by enabling him to be brought from Groningen and granting him hospitality in the Blue House on Ijburg. The moment Papa Sakho arrived at the Blue House was recorded, broadcast and thus made public. What followed was an arduous legal battle. Now, although Papa Sakho still faces the struggle of becoming a legal citizen, the possibility for cultural asylum in the Blue House facilitates Papa Sakho's right to be an active member of Dutch society and for him to start developing his life and connection with the Netherlands through his artistic pursuits. Read Mijn Geest Staat in Brand, a newspaper article (in Dutch)about Papa Sakho's turbulent experiences since living in the Netherlands and residence in the Blue House published in the "Dagblad van het Noorden, 15 December 2006
