INTERVENTIONS: Damask Rose: A Gathering

Cre­at­ed by: Bahar Behba­hani
Weav­ing team: Sham­sy Behba­hani, Pooran Shams, Fazi­lat Hakimzadeh, Mehrnoush Jelveh, Iran­dokht Far­jad, Shahin Mazid-Aba­di, Abbas & Nikoo Afshar
Run time: 4 hours (audi­ences may come and go through­out the performance)

Damask Rose: A Gath­er­ing is a spring cel­e­bra­tion inspired by the tra­di­tions of Per­sian Gar­dens. The work cen­ters Damask Rose, an immi­grant flo­ra from the East, and hon­ors migra­tion and hos­pi­tal­i­ty. Guid­ed by con­cep­tu­al ideas of shade, wind, immi­grant flo­ra, and dias­poric eco­log­i­cal and ances­tral knowl­edge, this gath­er­ing brings togeth­er non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions, food and drink sto­ry­tellers, herbal­ists, tea prac­ti­tion­ers, musi­cians, and many oth­er like-mind­ed com­mu­ni­ties and part­ners to share a moment of joy and resilience.

DIG­I­TAL PROGRAM

PER­FOR­MANCE SCHEDULE

• May 16, 1PM
• Rain date: May 17

PER­FOR­MANCE LOCATION

Liggett Ter­race, Gov­er­nors Island

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Bahar Behba­hani is an artist and edu­ca­tor whose inter­dis­ci­pli­nary work explores mem­o­ry, era­sure, col­lab­o­ra­tion, adap­ta­bility, and the search for a sense of place. For over a decade, the Per­sian gar­den has served as a cen­tral metaphor in her prac­tice, bridg­ing per­son­al his­to­ry with wider his­to­ries of pow­er, cli­mate, and the futu­ri­ty of ances­tral knowl­edge. Her recent projects include a pub­lic com­mis­sion for the 2024 Cre­ative Time Sum­mit and par­tic­i­pa­tion in the Shar­jah Bien­ni­al 15, among oth­ers. She has received awards from Cre­ative Cap­i­tal, the Joan Mitchell Foun­da­tion, and the Pol­lock-Kras­n­er Foun­da­tion Grant. A trans­plant from the land of sun, she has adopt­ed New York as her home, where she teach­es at CUNY and cre­ates space for ques­tion­ing dom­i­nant nar­ra­tives through art and dialogue.

MEET THE PARTNERS

• Pro­gram part­ners: ArteEast, Asia Con­tem­po­rary Art Forum, Eat Off­beat, New York Kur­dish Cul­tur­al Cen­ter, Par­dis for Chil­dren, SAG NYC, Tea Arts & Culture
• Sound part­ners: Afropol­ka with per­form­ers Kaïs­sa Doum­bè, Maciek Schejbal, Malang Jobarteh, Barza­kh Café, SAG Radio with Sasan Osk­ouei, Imal Gnawa
• Weav­ing togeth­er with Cyn­thia Alber­to, Weav­ing Hand 
• Hor­ti­cul­ture experts: Half Hol­low Nursery, Hor­tus Life
• With the warmth of: Ahmad Tea, Ker­man­shah Rug
• Offi­cial hydra­tion part­ner: Jabin Bev­er­age Company
• Pro­gram con­spir­a­tors: Maryam Ghor­eishi and Elaine Khuu
• Archi­tec­tur­al wis­dom and spa­tial strat­e­gy: Maneli Afshang and Ava Sarabi
• Botan­i­cal cyan­otype work­shop with artist Natalia Nakaza­wa
• Move­ment and flower mus­es: Kaoru Shimizu and Milād 
• Dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ty part­ner: Nim­ruz
• With sup­port from KODA and Mate­ri­als for the Arts

Damask Rose: A Gath­er­ing is made pos­si­ble through in-kind fab­ri­ca­tion sup­port through Pow­er­house Arts’ 2026 Artist Sub­sidy Program.

Pre­sent­ed as part of INTER­VEN­TIONS, Gov­er­nors Island Arts’ annu­al mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary per­for­mance series that presents local, nation­al, and inter­na­tion­al artists and invites audi­ences to expe­ri­ence work made and adapt­ed for out­door spaces. INTER­VEN­TIONS is curat­ed by Juan Pablo Siles, Asso­ciate Cura­tor and Pro­duc­er at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. Sup­port for INTER­VEN­TIONS is pro­vid­ed by the NYC May­or’s Office of Media and Entertainment.