A Cuenca Exhibit Looks At Violence Through Art And Neuroscience

A new Cuenca exhibition is taking a serious subject and looking at it through both art and science.

La figura compleja del Rey opened on June 23, 2026, at Sala Proceso in the Casa de la Cultura. El Mercurio reports that the project brings together Spanish artist Marina Vargas, researcher Johanna Pozo and curator Katya Cazar.

What The Exhibit Is About

The show uses the neuropsychological Figura Compleja de Rey test as a metaphor for how violence leaves traces in memory, perception and the body.

Vargas told El Mercurio the project turns that clinical reference into a way of asking where viewers place themselves when they move through works about patriarchal and social violence.

Pozo, from the Neurosciences Institute at the Universidad Catolica de Cuenca, said the exhibit incorporates results from functional near-infrared spectroscopy, or fNIRS. The technology measured brain oxygenation when people were exposed to objects and images linked to violent events in Cuenca.

Practical Details

The exhibition includes testimony from women from Ecuador, Spain and Cuba, which visitors can hear through headphones.

It is supported by the Embassy of Spain in Ecuador and the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Azuay branch.

The show remains open until July 17. Hours are Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 13:00 and 15:00 to 18:00. Entry is free.

Why It Is Worth Knowing

This is not a light afternoon outing, but it is the kind of serious cultural work Cuenca does well: local institutions, international artists and academic research in the same room.

If you follow Cuenca's art scene, this is one to put on the calendar before it closes.

Source: El Mercurio