Celebration at Persepolis

de Martin Clark

Michael Stevenson revisits the site of an infamous week-long party held in 1971 by the Shah of Iran amongst the ruins of the ancient Persian city of Persepolis. Reconstructing part of the temporary architecture built for the celebrations (itself now a ruin) Stevenson looks at this pivotal moment in Iranian history which led towards the subsequent cultural revolution. In June 2007 Stevenson exhibited a reconstruction of one of the guest tents in its current state, at actual scale, at Art Basel 38. This publication is an expanded version of this Basel presentation. The project effectively returns the structure to Europe, but as a folly. Described as an 'anthropologist of the avant-garde', Michael Stevenson (born 1964 in Inglewood, New Zealand, lives and works in Melbourne, Austalia) investigates the mythology that surrounds renowned and controversial events which have been significant in the spheres of both art and politics.