About

Badiyeh Arts is an artist-run initiative founded by artists Negin Mahzoun and Tooraj Khamenehzadeh, dedicated to curatorial practice, international cultural exchange, critical dialogue, and long-term collaboration across diverse artistic and cultural contexts.

The organization builds upon more than two decades of experience developing artist-run platforms, residency programs, and cross-cultural initiatives. Through Rybon Art Center, Khamenehzadeh and Mahzoun initiated a platform for artistic experimentation and the exchange of ideas beyond ethnic and regional boundaries, creating connections between local and international contemporary art practices. Later, through Kooshk Artist Residency, they expanded this vision by helping to break the isolation of Iran’s art scene and fostering international dialogue, collaboration, and experimentation, strengthening networks and creating exchanges with institutions and practitioners around the world.

Rooted in adaptability and care, Badiyeh Arts continues this trajectory—drawing on lived experience, international networks, and collective knowledge to cultivate conversation and build community through curatorial projects, exchanges, studio conversations, publications, and public programs. While based in New York, Badiyeh Arts is not defined by geography or borders. Emerging from a commitment to Global South perspectives, its projects move across contexts, connecting communities and exploring new forms of exchange wherever critical engagement and shared curiosity can take root.

The organization’s core activity is its Exchange Program, a research-based initiative developed through a growing network of global partnerships. The program connects curators, arts leaders, and cultural practitioners from different regions through reciprocal visits, professional introductions, and opportunities for dialogue. By fostering relationships among individuals who actively shape their local cultural landscapes, it seeks to strengthen connections between art ecosystems and encourage the long-term exchange of knowledge, experience, and perspectives across borders.

Badiyeh Arts is fiscally sponsored by CEC ArtsLink, enabling tax-deductible contributions in support of its programs and activities.

The name Badiyeh (بادیه) comes from Persian poetry and classical literature. It refers to a vast, open desert—a place of journey, uncertainty, and discovery. In Persian idiom, “going into the Badiyeh” often suggests seeking meaning rather than remaining still. The name was chosen to reflect a belief in movement, exploration, and the transformative potential of creative wandering.