Watch Dazzling Sculptures Burst Into Flames at Las Fallas
Article by: emily ward|@_drawylimeWed April 04, 2018 | 21:44 PM
For more than 300 years now, the "changing of the guard" from winter to spring in Valencia, Spain, has completely upended the rest of the world's idea of what "spring cleaning" means. Since the Middle Ages, Valencians and artistic communities convene each March for Las Fallas, the legendary art festival where sculptures are built, admired, and burned over a five-day celebration.
Las Fallas turns Valencia into an artistic war zone, much like Burning Man does to the playa. Local artists get the chance to use up winter's excess supplies through massive, cartoonish effigies built with said supplies. Both the larger effigies, fallas, and the smaller, doll-like ones, ninot, typically depict satirical scenes and current events with a social or political message. Artists and their artworks come dressed to impress; festivities include parades and noontime firecracker displays, also known as La Mezcletá.
After a week of display in Valencia's town center amidst raucous parties, these sculptures then burn in a series of dazzling pyrotechnic displays. For 2018, Las Fallas commissioned Okuda San Miguel ( "Okudart" ) one of Spain's most famous artists, to sculpt the festival's massive fallas centerpiece, titled "Fallas Mayor." Via This is Colossal, San Miguel says his piece "loosely addresses the relationship between people and animals, while incorporating various symbols the local community might find familiar." Bursting with color and funky geometric paneling, San Miguel's striking tower topped 80 feet. Watch it burn in the video above as Las Fallas' guest of honor in the festival's grand finale.
For Las Fallas, dozens of sculptures popped up all over Valencia. Check out a handful of some particularly fabulous ones below.
