Columns, barbecue area and meeting place: ‘Temple of Fire’ by Pilar Quinteros

As part of the ‘Public Art@Freilager-Platz’ series, the ‘Temple of Fire’ by Pilar Quinteros will be exhibited on the HGK Basel campus from 17 June to 30 August 2025. The installation, which consists of three columns, can be used as a barbecue.

As part of the ‘Public Art@Freilager-Platz’ series, a collaboration between the Basel University of Art and Design FHNW (HGK Basel), the HEK (House of Electronic Arts) and the Kunsthaus Baselland (KHBL), the installation ‘Temple of Fire’ by Chilean artist Pilar Quinteros will be on public display at Freilager-Platz - the Campus of the Arts - on the Dreispitz in Basel/Münchenstein from 17 June to 30 August 2025.

The ‘Temple of Fire’ takes the form of a site-specific trio of columns that - instead of being remnants of an old culture - form the foundations of a new society. Ironically, one of the columns is transformed into a barbecue. For Pilar Quinteros, literally nourishing the community is the best way to be together.

What is the ‘Temple of Fire’ about? It is about the spirit of togetherness, embodied in a work of art. The ancient discovery of fire becomes a contemporary search for a place to come together. Being together sounds simple - but it is a state that is questioned for many reasons.

In her work ‘Temple of Fire’, Pilar Quinteros refers to the Greek myth of Prometheus, who brought fire to mankind in the form of a glowing piece of charcoal that he hid in the pith of the stem of a giant fennel (Ferula communis). The giant fennel - a plant that is not only fire-resistant but also poisonous - grows in the Mediterranean, but is difficult to find. Pilar Quinteros travelled to La Boissière in the south-west of France in search of this mythical plant. Her search was unsuccessful - so she created the plant herself and gave its hidden properties a physical form in a public space.

Born in Santiago, Chile, grew up in Patagonia, Pilar Quinteros now lives and works in Barcelona and Basel. She is currently completing her Master's in Fine Arts at the Institute Art Gender Nature (IAGN) at the HGK Basel FHNW. She works with drawing, sculpture, performance and video, often using inexpensive or recycled building materials that are deliberately fragile and ephemeral. Her projects often involve interventions in public space and thematise the ongoing destruction and disappearance of what is taken for granted - also as a bridge to the idea of unexplored worlds.

‘What else do we humans do in our time on earth,’ asks Pilar Quinteros, ’but create, interpret and build worlds and constantly reconstruct the vague concept we have of reality?’

‘Public Art@Freilager-Platz’ is an initiative of the Basel University of Art and Design FHNW (HGK Basel; Claudia Perren, Director), the HEK (House of Electronic Arts (Sabine Himmelsbach, Director) and the Kunsthaus Baselland (KHBL; Ines Goldbach, Director). The initiative aims to revitalise Freilager-Platz with changing, publicly accessible art in order to sustainably increase the quality of the area and strengthen the neighbourhood. The plan is to realise outstanding artistic works every two years that will radiate into the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft as well as far beyond.

After kicking off with the internationally renowned and socially committed artist Jeppe Hein, whose interactive water installation ‘Appearing Rooms’ invited visitors to engage in a playful dialogue with the element of water on Freilager-Platz from May to September 2023, Pilar Quinteros is now continuing this conversation with her ‘Temple of Fire’. Her work shifts the focus from water to fire - transforming Freilager-Platz into a place of community and collective warmth.

The second edition of ‘Public Art@Freilager-Platz’ is curated by Claudia Perren, Director of HGK Basel FHNW, and Chus Martínez, Head of the Institute Art Gender Nature (IAGN) at HGK Basel FHNW.

The ‘Temple of Fire’ will open on Tuesday, 17 June 2025, at 1 pm as part of ‘Art@Dreispitz’ during Art Basel Week with a performance and lunch on Freilager-Platz.

At the end of ‘Temple of Fire’, a performance will take place on Saturday, 30 August 2025, at 7 pm on Freilager-Platz as part of Kunsttage Basel.

The ‘Temple of Fire’ has a barbecue that is open to the public and can be used from 17 June to 30 August. Instructions on site.

More information

Picture: Visualization of the installation “Temple of Fire” by Pilar Quinteros on the Campus der Künste, Freilager-Platz, Basel/Münchenstein. Credit: Pilar Quinteros, by courtesy of the artist