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photos by Chris La Putt

Those About to Die Salute You, a battle on water wielded with baguette swords and watermelon canons by New York's art dignitaries took place on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 6 pm in a flooded World's Fair-era reflecting pool in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, just outside of the Queens Museum of Art. Various types of vessels were designed and constructed by artist provocateur Duke Riley and his collaborators: the galleons, some made of reeds harvested in the park, were used to stage a citywide battle of the art museums in which representatives from the Queens Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, Bronx Museum of the Arts, and El Museo del Barrio battleD before a toga-clad crowd of frenzied onlookers.The event was free and open to public. Dress code: TOGA. Live music was provided by Hell-Bent Hooker
If Duke's name seems familiar it might be because he was in the news about two years ago when he decided to make a Revolutionary War-era submarine and navigate it near the Queen Mary 2 while it was docked in New York City, much to the chagrin of the NYPD. While there were no submarines at this event there was the Queen Mary 2:



Hell-Bent Hooker


































































Comments (16)
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this looks part awesome, and part what the f
Posted by Anonymous | August 14, 2009 2:25 AM
Those wacky kids...
Posted by Anonymous | August 14, 2009 9:28 AM
i usually hate these hipster douchebag reclaim-our-childhood things, but this looks pretty large-scale and awesome. they did it right.
Posted by Anonymous | August 14, 2009 9:34 AM
who won?
Posted by Anonymous | August 14, 2009 9:41 AM
To the young woman in picture 62: Meow.
Posted by Anonymous | August 14, 2009 9:46 AM
HHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH
Posted by Anonymous | August 14, 2009 10:25 AM
it was epic!
Posted by Anonymous | August 14, 2009 11:02 AM
Quite possibly the most fun I've ever had in NYC, and definitely the first time I've ever been proud to live in Queens.
Posted by Super-Extra | August 14, 2009 11:57 AM
sangreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Posted by Anonymous | August 14, 2009 12:07 PM
maybe they should have used their time and resources to help raise money for cash strapped museums...?
Posted by Anonymous | August 14, 2009 12:13 PM
Considering the entire thing cost less than $12k to make maybe you should do your research and shut the fuck up.
Posted by Anonymous | August 14, 2009 12:21 PM
Raising money for cash-strapped musuems is what they do. That's their job. How many hours a week do you do your job? Do you take any time in the evenings to do something fun? Spend money on things that aren't directly work related?
No matter what the answer to those questions are, you're a dick. Let people who work for beleaguered arts organizations have some fun, here or there.
Posted by Anonymous | August 14, 2009 1:28 PM
GREAT PHOTOS! I took a lame little band video with the wrong camera - arrgh but you get the feeling for the moment. Really nice. I had a great time. Loved the Kaos, bigger and louder next time!!!
Posted by Lynne Brown | August 14, 2009 2:04 PM
Anyone who gets arrested piloting their very own homemade submarine is automatically my hero, but this sealed the deal. No offense, but these pictures - though beautiful - don't do it justice. It was utter chaos. 1000 people hurling tomatoes at each other while homemade boats try to sink each other, neighborhood kids tacking hipsters in the water, wet togas, someone threw a fucking smoke bomb, there were confetti canons, waterhoses - and all in like a 100 square foot area over the course of 20 minutes. They should just give Duke Reilly the keys and deed to PS1. This was the most fun I've had in many, many, years.
To bad we couldn't just be at home raising money for cash- strapped museums - I guess we'll have to settle for actually going to one and having a good time.
Posted by Anonymous | August 14, 2009 8:25 PM
THIS
IS
FLUSHING!
Posted by Anonymous | August 15, 2009 12:32 PM
I really appreciate those people who joined in this event. The images were very informative and good thing that the event was open to the public. It would make them aware of the recent events. Its great that not just adults were able to participate, in the images, the little kids enjoyed, too.
Posted by british gas boiler | May 6, 2010 5:30 AM