NuKleo 5

"NUKLEO 5".
JESÚS ALCOLEA (Madrid, 1970), VALERIANO CORTAZAR (Madrid, 1955), RICARDO RENEDO (Segovia, 1960) and KASTRO (Madrid, 1973).
"Europa", 2025.
Artistic assemblage, pictorial intervention, sculptural elements, symbolic objects and scenographic composition in the box-frame.
Work selected for the Queen Sofia Award, 2026.
Provenance: NuKleo 5 Collection.
Measurements: 100 x 130 cm.
Work exhibited at:
-Seminar Urbs Regia, with reference to FECU , Spanish Federation of Associations and Clubs for UNESCO. Novembre 2025.
-Exhibition at the Museo Cromática, Toledo. December 2025.
-Exhibition of selected works at Casa de Vacas, Madrid. March 2026.
- Exhibition at El Silo de Hortaleza, Madrid, within Vanguardia Contemporánea. May 2026.

EUROPA is a collective work created by the artists of NuKleo 5, Jesús Alcolea, Valeriano Cortázar, Ricardo Renedo and Kastrom within the conceptual project Orígenes de Europa. Conceived as a manifesto-work, the piece proposes a profound reflection on historical memory, the common European origin, cultural cooperation and the shared construction of the future. The work integrates different artistic languages in a scenographic composition of great symbolic richness, where painting, realism, miniature, object intervention, contemporary sculpture and narrative elements converge. The plurality of techniques and sensibilities does not fragment the visual discourse; on the contrary, it strengthens the choral character of a work built from the sum and creative dialogue.
The composition places the viewer before a Europe understood not as a closed territory, but as a living process in constant transformation. Elements such as the ancient map, the globe, the robot, the ladder, the Rubik's cube, the marbles, the egg or the white handkerchief function as symbols of knowledge, memory, evolution, collective intelligence, peace and common responsibility.
Each of the artists imprints a recognizable identity within the group: Jesús Alcolea incorporates his universe of Los Diminutos, small human figures that act as a metaphor for essential humanity. Valeriano Cortázar intervenes the frame and the scenic atmosphere providing compositional balance, visual rhythm and pictorial sensitivity. Ricardo Renedo contributes the realistic dimension of the piece, providing the objects represented with depth, physical presence and material veracity, and Kastro incorporates his recognizable three-dimensional Kriatures, figures that function as a bridge between art, play, memory and future. The work also incorporates the institutional reference to FECU, Spanish Federation of Associations and Clubs for UNESCO, as a cultural framework linked to the protection of heritage, humanism and the international dimension of the project.
From its symbolic reading, EUROPA poses a visual reflection on the birth of a common identity built from the diversity of cultures, languages and memories. The egg appears as a shared origin; the Rubik's cube as a representation of collective intelligence; the robot as a symbol of conscious technology; the white handkerchief as an emblem of peace and dialogue; the globe as a global vision; the ancient map as historical memory; and the ladder as a metaphor of shared ascent.