An interdisciplinary artist-scholar based in Rhode Island and Mexico City, Adela Goldbard (b. 1979) creates politically charged, collaborative works that culminate in the burning of large-scale effigies. Her upcoming public pyrotechnic performance—scheduled for September 4th at City Hall—features the ritual and theatrical destruction of a colonial galleon constructed from invasive reeds gathered across the Americas.

Engaging migrant and local weavers, musicians, Uros artisans from Lake Titicaca in Peru, and master pyrotechnicians from Mexico, the piece offers a powerful anti-colonial counterpoint to traditional U.S. patriotic fireworks displays. The performance transitions from a somber “pyrotechnic battle” to a festive traditional castillo display—towering rotating firework structures typical of Mexican celebrations—in which the galleon’s masts are transformed into the spinning arms of the castillo.

The event will be accompanied by live Latinx music synchronized with the detonations. Key collaborators include the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, the Artsumex collective from Tultepec, whose traditional techniques will be carried out by a U.S. based pyrotechnician, John Ruggieri at Ocean State Pyrotechnics, and Peruvian-American artist Aymar Ccopacatty. Live band TBD.