LOMBARDIVILLE

2003-ongoing

Miami, FL.

An American Falla is intended to be located on a small hilltop in Bi-Centennial Park, in downtown Miami directly across the street from four of the largest residential developments on the East Coast. Originally planned for 2003, the exhibit anticipated the inevitable Real Estate / Stock Market debacle while questioning the true cost of the matter. “The elements of the exhibit were to incorporate a reproduction of the “Cape Cod” model home from Levittown with the purpose of burning it into the ground. Dates that have been considered for executing the project: July 4th, (Anniversary-USA Independence) December 7th (Anniversary-Bombing of Pearl Harbor) and December 4th (Day of Saint Barbara- Patron Saint in Santeria of construction / fire / fireworks / and Virgins)

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: The 1947 residential development known as “Levittown” is considered to be the first suburban community built in the United States. Responding to the imminent housing needs in the U.S. following the Second World War, “Levittown” came to personify a tangible affirmation of the dreams and aspirations of many individuals. During the same period of time that Levittown was being built, President Eisenhower began developing the American Interstate Highway System, which assisted the process of urban plight. Ironically, sixty years later, Americans are returning to live in “urban centers” leading many scholars and academicians to acknowledge a perceptual shift in what we consider to be the “American Dream”.

HISTORY OF LAS FALLAS:
The tradition of Las Fallas stems from the 16th Century when Spanish carpenters would perform a spring-cleaning by setting ablaze the remnants of their workshops. The tradition has evolved today into the construction of elaborate wooden structures whose subject matter is both political and satirical in nature.

IMAGE CREDIT:

1. 1)Bi-Cenennial Park 2007
   

2. 2)Burning Levittown
   

3. 3)Aerial View of Levittown
   

4. 4)Plan Voisin, Le Corbusier, 1925
   

5. 5)President Eisenhower
   

6. 6)Federal Highway Act Photo op
   

7. 7)Interstate 395 heading to South Beach
   

8. 8)Le Corbusier “ The City of tomorrow and it’s planning”
   

9. 9)Jacobs, Jane “ Death and Life of the Great American cities”
   

10. 10) Robert Moses, Arterials through Midtown Manhattan