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Gov­er­nors Island Arts Announces 2025 Season

Apr 23, 2025 12:00 am

Gov­er­nors Island Arts today announced a dynam­ic sea­son of pub­lic art­works and per­for­mances as part of the 2025 sea­son start­ing May 17. The sea­son is anchored by Rest/​Play, a new group exhi­bi­tion that explores the inter­sec­tion of art, design, and pub­lic space, along­side the con­tin­u­a­tion of the INTER­VEN­TIONS per­for­mance series, which will fea­ture the US pre­mière of Lau­ra Cemin and Bian­ca Hisse’s How the Land Lies and the New York City pre­mière of Tou­ki Delphine’s Fire­bird. This spring also marks the return of the sea­son­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram, with 24 NYC-based arts non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions invig­o­rat­ing the Island’s his­toric hous­es with sea­son­al instal­la­tions, artist res­i­den­cies, work­shops, and oth­er pub­lic pro­grams. The sea­son will kick off with a spe­cial cel­e­bra­tion, free and open to the pub­lic, on Sat­ur­day, May 17, 2025. 

“As we ush­er in Gov­er­nors Island’s twen­ti­eth year open to the pub­lic, we are proud to present a pro­gram that will con­tin­ue to bring artists, New York­ers, and vis­i­tors from around the world togeth­er to engage with bold pub­lic art and immer­sive open space in a set­ting unlike any oth­er,” said Lau­ren Haynes, Head Cura­tor, Gov­er­nors Island Arts, and Vice Pres­i­dent at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“The exhi­bi­tions, per­for­mances, and pro­grams announced today high­light diverse artis­tic expres­sions, invite moments of deep reflec­tion, and — per­haps most impor­tant­ly — cel­e­brate the myr­i­ad ways we spend our time in this unique place.”

Group Exhi­bi­tion: Rest/​Play

May 17-Novem­ber 2, 2025

Fea­tured artists: Nina Chanel Abney; Lenka Clay­ton & Phillip Andrew Lewis; Arlene Shechet; Hank Willis Thomas; more to be announced.

Rest/​Play invites vis­i­tors to expe­ri­ence Gov­er­nors Island like nev­er before — bal­anc­ing moments of relax­ation with bursts of cre­ativ­i­ty and joy. The exhi­bi­tion is a cel­e­bra­tion of how we spend our time in this unique space, whether it’s unwind­ing or immers­ing our­selves in dynam­ic art. Rest trans­forms the Island with artist-designed seat­ing that merges cre­ativ­i­ty with func­tion. These inno­v­a­tive works not only pro­vide a place to sit and refresh, but also offer a chance to pause, reflect, and recon­nect with the sur­round­ing nature. Play brings ener­gy and col­or to the island, with bold, inter­ac­tive art­works that spark joy and inspire deep reflec­tion. The vibrant use of form and hue cre­ates a sen­so­ry expe­ri­ence that refresh­es both body and mind.

Rest/​Play is curat­ed by Lau­ren Haynes, Head Cura­tor of Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Vice Pres­i­dent at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island.

INTER­VEN­TIONS Per­for­mance Series

Through this site-respon­sive, mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary annu­al per­for­mance series, Gov­er­nors Island Arts presents local, nation­al, and inter­na­tion­al artists and invites audi­ences to expe­ri­ence work made and adapt­ed for out­door spaces. 

How the Land Lies (US Pre­mière)

Lau­ra Cemin and Bian­ca Hisse 

May 17, 2:15 & 7:30PM

May 18, 3PM

Music by Vera Vice

Light­ing design by Sofia Ivarsson

Cos­tume design by Kairi Mahdla

Co-pro­duced by Kias­ma The­ater, and Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava

Fea­tur­ing five local dancers, How the Land Lies, direct­ed and chore­o­graphed by Lau­ra Cemin and Bian­ca Hisse, is a per­for­mance piece incor­po­rat­ing move­ment and scrolling LED signs. Usu­al­ly encoun­tered in pub­lic spaces as low-key adver­tise­ments, the LEDs become ves­sels to con­vey how lan­guage influ­ences mobil­i­ty. While the scrolling text flash­es tourism slo­gans and visa ques­tion­naires, the dancers — all of whom car­ry expe­ri­ences of migra­tion — inter­act with the signs through move­ment. Mean­ings unfold and bor­ders slow­ly blur: who can stay and who must leave? Who is seen and who remains hid­den? What is allowed and what is forbidden?

Fire­bird (NYC Pre­mière)

Tou­ki Delphine 

Octo­ber 3, 7PM

Octo­ber 4, 7PM

Con­cept, music and visu­als by Bo Koek, John van Oost­rum, Rik Elst­geest, and Chris Doyle

Con­cept and design by John van Oost­rum, The­un Mosk

Sound design by Toon Boland

Ams­ter­dam-based artist col­lec­tive Tou­ki Delphine’s Fire­bird, pre­vi­ous­ly pre­sent­ed at Mass MoCA, fea­tures an orches­tra of light made from more than 600 recy­cled car tail­lights that illu­mi­nate the dance of the fire­bird. A thor­ough­ly hyp­not­ic expe­ri­ence, this rule-break­ing con­cert pro­gram and extra-ter­res­tri­al instal­la­tion con­nects sound and light to cre­ate a sym­pho­ny of light re-envi­sion­ing Igor Stravinsky’s 1919 Fire­bird Suite as an homage. On Gov­er­nors Island, the work will illu­mi­nate the Parade Ground, an expan­sive field with the Low­er Man­hat­tan sky­line act­ing as backdrop. 

Pre­vi­ous per­for­mances pre­sent­ed as part of this series include works by Modesto ​“Flako” Jimenez, Indige­nous Enter­prise, Dance Hegin­both­am, Rena Anakwe, Inua Ellams, and Lenio Kak­lea. INTER­VEN­TIONS is curat­ed by Juan Pablo Siles, Asso­ciate Cura­tor and Pro­duc­er at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. Tick­ets to all per­for­mances will be avail­able online at www​.gov​is​land​.org.

Pub­lic Art 

There are cur­rent­ly sev­en tem­po­rary and long-term pub­lic art­works, pre­sent­ed through Gov­er­nors Island Arts, on dis­play year-round through­out Gov­er­nors Island’s park and his­toric land­scapes: Sheila Berger’s BIRD MMXXI­II, Sam Van Aken’s The Open Orchard, Duke Riley’s Not for Nut­ten, Mark Dion’s The Field Sta­tion of the Melan­choly Marine Biol­o­gist, Shantell Martin’s Church, Rachel Whiteread’s Cab­in, and Mark Handforth’s Yan­kee Hang­er.

Enjoy more ways to con­nect with pub­lic art via the Gov­er­nors Island guide avail­able on Bloomberg Con­nects, the free arts and cul­ture app. Deep dive into the Island’s art­works with an inter­ac­tive map, a self-guid­ed walk­ing tour, audio com­men­tary by cura­tors, and much more. 

Orga­ni­za­tions in Residence

Each year, two dozen arts and cul­tur­al non­prof­its uti­lize space inside the his­toric hous­es of Nolan Park and Colonels Row to present a robust cal­en­dar of free pub­lic pro­grams, host artist res­i­den­cies, and engage vis­i­tors in spe­cial activ­i­ties for all ages — includ­ing the return of month­ly THIRD Sat­ur­days, with spe­cial per­for­mances and more. Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence are open week­ends from 11am-5pm, May 17-Novem­ber 2, 2025. 

• Amer­i­can Indi­an Com­mu­ni­ty House Man­hat­tan
• AnkhLave Arts Alliance Man­hat­tan
• Art­Crawl Harlem Man­hat­tan
• BronxArt­Space The Bronx
• Bronx Coun­cil on the Arts The Bronx
• Bil­lion Oys­ter Project Man­hat­tan
• I am caribBE­ING Brook­lyn
• Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um Man­hat­tan
• Dancers Unlim­it­ed Brook­lyn*
• DuYe Moves Brook­lyn
• Escap­ing Time: Art from U.S. Pris­ons Man­hat­tan
• Filmshop Man­hat­tan
• For­est for Trees Col­lec­tive Brook­lyn*
• Har­vest­works Man­hat­tan
• KODA Brook­lyn
• The Muse­um of Con­tem­po­rary African Dias­po­ran Arts (MoCA­DA) Brook­lyn
• New York Latin Amer­i­can Art Tri­en­ni­al Man­hat­tan
• Res­i­den­cy Unlim­it­ed (RU) Brook­lyn
• The Super­Geo­graph­ics Brook­lyn*
• Swale Brook­lyn
• Tai­wanese Amer­i­can Arts Coun­cil Queens
• West Harlem Art Fund Man­hat­tan

*First time pro­gram participants.

Gov­er­nors Island Arts presents its pro­gram with sup­port from Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, Cha­ri­na Endow­ment Fund, Star­dust Fund, Sur­go Foun­da­tion US, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, the New York State Coun­cil on the Arts (NYSCA) with the sup­port of the Office of the Gov­er­nor and the New York State Leg­is­la­ture, Car­rie Den­ning Jack­son and Dan Jack­son, the Rip­ple Foun­da­tion, the Howard Gilman Foun­da­tion, and the Jerome L. Greene Foundation.