Installation view, A Utopian Stage: Festival of Arts, Shiraz-Persepolis (1967-77), Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, South Korea 2020 © Asia Culture Center, Courtesy Archaeology of the Final Decade Archives.

A selection of photographs from the Festival of Arts, Shiraz-Persepolis, collected and digitised by Archaeology of the Final Decade.

Orghast (Part II), play written by Ted Hughes in collaboration with Mahin Tajadod, directed by Peter Brook, Arby Ovanessian, Geoffrey Reeves, Andrei Serban, created by International Centre for Theatre Research, Naqsh-e Rostam, 1971. Co-commissioned by Festival of Arts and French Ministry of Culture with the participation of the Ford and Gulbenkian Foundations and UNESCO. Courtesy Archaeology of the Final Decade Archives / International Centre for Theatre Research.

Persepolis Event, The Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Persepolis, 1972. World Premiere and site-specific commission. Courtesy Archaeology of the Final Decade Archives / The Merce Cunningham Trust

Caligula, written by Albert Camus, directed by Arby Ovanessian, NIRT Theatre Workshop, Persepolis, 1974. Courtesy Archaeology of the Final Decade Archives / Mehdi Khonsari.

Iannis Xenakis preparing for a performance of his commission Persepolis among the ruins in 1971. Courtesy Archaeology of the Final Decade Archives.

Hymnen, composed by Karlheinz Stockhausen, electronic and concrete music with optional live performers, piano by Aloys Kontarsky, percussion by Christoph Caskel, electrochord by Peter Eotvos, electronium by Harald Boje, filters and potentiometers by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Persepolis, 1972. Courtesy Archaeology of the Final Decade Archives / Stockhausen-Stiftung für Musik.

Orghast (Part II), play written by Ted Hughes in collaboration with Mahin Tajadod, directed by Peter Brook, Arby Ovanessian, Geoffrey Reeves, Andrei Serban, created by International Centre for Theatre Research, Naqsh-e Rostam, 1971. Co-commissioned by Festival of Arts and French Ministry of Culture with the participation of the Ford and Gulbenkian Foundations and UNESCO. Courtesy Archaeology of the Final Decade Archives / International Centre for Theatre Research.