The 570 Award For Emerging Art is a project that arises from the collaboration between the Visual Arts Degree of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador and N24 Art Gallery. The objective is to contribute to the circulation of young Ecuadorian art, so the award consists of an exhibition at the N24 Art Gallery for students and graduates of the Visual Arts degree. Likewise, the award includes advice on the conception and production of the exhibition by both institutions.

The name of the award refers to both institutions, because the distance that divides one from the other is 570 steps. The jury for the award was made up of two representatives from the Visual Arts Degree: Giada Lusardi and Gonzalo Vargas, as well as two representatives from N24 Galería: José Avilés and Martina Avilés. To choose the winners, the jury took into account a series of parameters: Quality of the artistic proposal (clarity of the research line, evidence of experimentation processes and quality of the resolution), Coherence between curatorial concept and selection of works, Quality of the museographic proposal, Feasibility of the proposal (in temporal, economic and installation terms), and Quality of the information included in the dossier.

Two projects were the award winners: Simbiontes by Micaela García Gutiérrez and Murmullos by Ricardo Nugra Madera. Once the exhibitions in the N24 Art Gallery space are over, now, both projects travel to Cuenca in the context of the 15th Cuenca Biennial, in this way, the award is part of the Independent Exhibition Circuit of the city.

Symbiosis is a term that derives from the Greek and means "living together." In her project, Micaela García is inspired by nature, and by those organisms that seek to correlate in order to survive. The artist works mainly with lichens, which are the union between a fungus and a photosynthetic organism. She carries out a large part of the research and creation process in a biology laboratory, using a logbook to take note of the discoveries made, which also becomes an artwork.

In this way, her project consists of several artworks in addition to the logbook, on the one hand, a Dome, which simulates the internal structure of a lichen, where cells intertwine and cross. This artwork is called Biocenosis.

On the other hand, a series of collages are displayed, where the artist creates her own organic paper made of Abacá fibers that works as a substrate for lichens. This series is called Holobionts, which are complex multicellular organisms with their associated microorganisms.

With this exhibition, Micaela invites the viewer to analyze the relationships between the human being and the environment that surrounds him, mainly by observing the behaviors between these organisms that coexist to empower themselves.

Ricardo Nugra, on the other hand, makes a sound installation, together with a series of photographs, through which viewers can reflect on the current relationship between humans and trees, based on the heavy deforestation that the Ecuadorian forest has suffered.

The sound installation consists of a Seique tree trunk split in half, where parables were carved, to recreate the effect of the acoustic mirror, so that the public can hear, as they get closer, sounds recorded in the jungle.

The photographic series, on the other hand, are prints of photographs of the Ecuadorian jungle on wooden plates, we can find three different types, Laurel, Seique and Canelón.

The exhibition is open from December 9, 2021 to January 20, 2022. It is located in the Casa Patrimonial Casa del Artista, Av. Loja y 1 de Mayo, next to the Arco Yanuncay. You can visit it from Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.