Rory Golden
Duty Free Ranger: Coronado in Queens
I appear as Duty Free Ranger: Coronado in Queens, in search of the city of gold and a pony in Jamaica, Queens, NY. Dressed as a mash-up of a modern dandy and a conquistador, Duty Free Ranger asks for directions using the only Spanish he knows. Coronado in Queens embodies, destabilizes, and satirizes colonialism and militarism via a performative public intervention, or what I call a “Fashion Action.” Spontaneous exchanges inspire curiosity, awakening passersby on their day-to-day paths. The action connects contemporary cultural expressions, i.e., fashion, with the USA’s violent colonialist history through an experience of walking, asking and searching for a mythical place.
About the artist
My performative works destabilize colonialism and militarism via public interventions, rituals and acts of propitiation. I become an amplifier and transmitter of secret language that enables justice, facilitating individual and societal healing. I have presented my work at La Mama in New York City as part of NYU’s Hemispheric Institute of Performance Art and Politics EMERGENYC intensive; at the Performance Laboratory (Detroit, MI); NYU’s Radical Archives Conference; Art in Odd Places in New York City and Sydney, Australia; Itinerant Live Art Festival in New York; and Dixon Place Lounge in New York. In virtual reality, I pretend to be an haute couture menswear designer @rorygolden on Instagram.
Photos: Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful
Duty Free Ranger: Coronado in Queens
I appear as Duty Free Ranger: Coronado in Queens, in search of the city of gold and a pony in Jamaica, Queens, NY. Dressed as a mash-up of a modern dandy and a conquistador, Duty Free Ranger asks for directions using the only Spanish he knows. Coronado in Queens embodies, destabilizes, and satirizes colonialism and militarism via a performative public intervention, or what I call a “Fashion Action.” Spontaneous exchanges inspire curiosity, awakening passersby on their day-to-day paths. The action connects contemporary cultural expressions, i.e., fashion, with the USA’s violent colonialist history through an experience of walking, asking and searching for a mythical place.
About the artist
My performative works destabilize colonialism and militarism via public interventions, rituals and acts of propitiation. I become an amplifier and transmitter of secret language that enables justice, facilitating individual and societal healing. I have presented my work at La Mama in New York City as part of NYU’s Hemispheric Institute of Performance Art and Politics EMERGENYC intensive; at the Performance Laboratory (Detroit, MI); NYU’s Radical Archives Conference; Art in Odd Places in New York City and Sydney, Australia; Itinerant Live Art Festival in New York; and Dixon Place Lounge in New York. In virtual reality, I pretend to be an haute couture menswear designer @rorygolden on Instagram.
Photos: Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful
