Culture and Coexistence into the Great Unknown
Destroyed in a dramatic and highly-publicized implosion, the Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex has become a widespread symbol of failure among architects, politicians and policy makers. A 2012 documentary unveiled the many witting and unwitting villains, including urban poverty, public policy enforced racial segregation, and urban disinvestment in favor of the White Suburban Dream.
Mytho-Historical Prophecy: Facing certain destruction by a massive wildfire raging down from the high peaks, the Oraibi village leader consults Old Spider Woman on overcoming the state of koyaanisqatsi, or life out of balance, that had befallen the land.
Following the dances of the kachinas in the wayward village of Pivanhonkyapi suffering the imbalance of Koyaanisqatsi, the dreaded Yaayapontsa arrive to purify the world with fire.
The Hopi curse of Koyaanisqatsi marks the total disintegration of the life of harmony and balance. The subject of a 1982 tone poem of modern day environmental devastation by Godfrey Reggio, also shown in the mythological destruction of the ancient Hopi city of Pivanhonkyapi.