PichiAvo Valencia: From Temple to Ashes at the Fallas

In Valencia, fire is part of the process. Each year, the Fallas de Valencia fills the streets with large-scale monuments designed with a clear ending in mind. They stand briefly, drawing attention and engagement, before being burned on the final night of the festival.

PichiAvo‘s installation, Per ofrenar (“To Offer”), was created for the festival. Installed at Borrull Street 31, the PichiAvo structure in Valencia took the form of an Ionic temple, immediately recognisable with it’s Doric pillars and Athenian facade.

A Temple on Borrull Street

The reference is the Temple of Athena Nike. A traditional structure from the ancient world which is then overlain with graffiti. The classic meeting the modern which is very much the style that PichiAvo have cultivated over the years. The result is a surface that feels both precise and disrupted.

Inside the Structure

Inside, the installation became more focused. With attention being drawn to a central point. Here an alter made of surplus paper appeared. All taken from the production of PichiAvo’s book ‘Our Odyssey‘. Two candles, produced in collaboration with Cerabella, sit on either side. One representing classical art, the other graffiti. The relationship is not competitive. Instead, the work presents them in equilibrium.

A Surface That Changed Over Time

Over the course of the festival, PichiAvo’s Valencia installation began to shift through interaction. Visitors were invited to leave offerings, using the same paper from which the structure itself was made.

Gradually, the surface filled with notes, drawings, and messages. By the final days, people began writing directly onto the walls. The structure moved away from being a fixed object and instead became something more fluid. Something closer to a shared surface, built through multiple contributions.

Built Using Traditional Techniques

The construction of the of the temple took a year to develop and followed traditional methods. Only using wood and paper rather than anything more permanent. Despite the effort it was only ever intended to exist for a matter of days. It’s a contrast between time invested and lifespan which is central to the idea of the Fallas itself, where effort is directed towards something which is inherently temporary.

La Cremà

On March 19, during La Cremà (the last day of the festival) the PichiAvo installation reached its final stage. The burning was not separate from the work but a part of it. The structure, along with the contributions left by visitors, is reduced to ash. The balance explored within the piece, between classical form and contemporary expression, is resolved in the same way as everything else in the festival.

A Temporary Presence in Valencia

Per ofrenar was awarded First Prize in the Sustainable category and Third in the Experimental section. It was recognised in both its construction and conceptual approach.

But like all the Valencia fallas, it no longer exists. What remains is the process, the interaction, and the gradual transformation of the work over time.

For a short period, a temple stood in the city.

Then it was gone.

For more Inspiring City articles you will like, take a look at…

• Classic Meets Graffiti – The Art of PichiAvo
• PichiAvo paint giant Mural of Athena in Barcelona
• ‘In Gods We Trust’ – PichiAvo at the Unit London