Adrián Balseca’s ‘Nyctalopia’ at Void to reference decline of rail and dominion of the car in Derry

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For the past few weeks Adrián Balseca has been staying in the Bogside and assembling ‘Nyctalopia’ his debut solo exhibition in the North which opens at the Void Art Centre on Saturday.

The Ecuadorean mixed-media artist, who specialises in site-specific engagements with the places he visits, told the ‘Journal’ he has been enjoying his first ever visit to Derry.

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"It's super interesting. I'm staying in the Bogside. It's a really special place. It's my first time here in NI. The people are really kind,” he observes.

Balseca, who is originally from Quito, just a few hundred kilometres from the border with Ecuador’s often troubled neighbour Colombia, suggests the sense of connection he has found in Derry may come from a sense of community born out of trying circumstances.

Adrián Balseca at the Void Art Centre where ‘Nyctalopia’ his debut solo exhibition in the North opens on Saturday.Adrián Balseca at the Void Art Centre where ‘Nyctalopia’ his debut solo exhibition in the North opens on Saturday.
Adrián Balseca at the Void Art Centre where ‘Nyctalopia’ his debut solo exhibition in the North opens on Saturday.

"I think it's part of our resilience process. Colombians as well are really nice people. So I found that is a really interested thing in understanding the kindness of people,” he declares.

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His new exhibition takes its name from ‘Nyctalopia’, or night-blindness, a condition that makes it more difficult to see at night time.

The work references the decline of the railways in Derry, the spread of car culture in the city and more generally, and how this might compound the worsening ecological and climate crisis.

“It is a site-specific commission that involves a lot of research. The exhibition is called ‘Nyctalopia’. The name comes from a visual illness related to the impossibility of seeing things clearly at night. I make a metaphor between humans’ inability to see our current state of climate disruption,” he says.

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Adrián Balseca, OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE DARKER THAN THEY APPEAR part of Nyctalopia, 35mm photo, Clochán an Aifir, 2024. Courtesy of VOID Art Centre and the artist .Adrián Balseca, OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE DARKER THAN THEY APPEAR part of Nyctalopia, 35mm photo, Clochán an Aifir, 2024. Courtesy of VOID Art Centre and the artist .
Adrián Balseca, OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE DARKER THAN THEY APPEAR part of Nyctalopia, 35mm photo, Clochán an Aifir, 2024. Courtesy of VOID Art Centre and the artist .
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The decay of the railway system in Ireland, and to Derry and Donegal in particular, will provide a reference point for the new work.

"One of Britain's hallmarks in the colonies was the railway system as an invention,” says Balesca. “It was part of the second industrial revolution and was a key point in the development of modernity in the 20th century.”

He adds: “There are some stories related to that in Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina. All the railway systems and infrastructures were provided by the British.

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Adrián Balseca, pictured on Tuesday in the Void, where he has been finalising his ‘Nyctalopia’ exhibition.Adrián Balseca, pictured on Tuesday in the Void, where he has been finalising his ‘Nyctalopia’ exhibition.
Adrián Balseca, pictured on Tuesday in the Void, where he has been finalising his ‘Nyctalopia’ exhibition.

"That invention and path took place here in Ireland at the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the early 20th Century and you can see through time how that connectivity has lessened and decayed, especially with the development of the automobile industry.”

Balesca’s art practice involves the curation of cultural artefacts, from photographic archives to automobile accessories, and the use of video and still photography.

Over the past several weeks the Buenos Aires-based artist has been perusing archives in the Central Library and the Tower Museum and amassing exhibits from the history of the rail system, car parts, and archaeological material.

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A leitmotif of the exhibition will be the car wing mirror. A way of looking in the rear view towards a golden age of rail prior to the triumph of the combustion engine?

A still from a film portrait of Eamonn McCann out the 'line' that features in the new exhibition.A still from a film portrait of Eamonn McCann out the 'line' that features in the new exhibition.
A still from a film portrait of Eamonn McCann out the 'line' that features in the new exhibition.

"I've been collecting some artefacts specifically from the 20th century such as wing mirrors. They were actually first developed so that drivers could look out for police. I started collecting wing mirrors of original cars,” he says.

He has even managed to source a mirror from a decommissioned British Army armoured vehicle.

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The exhibition will incorporate locally sourced minerals used by ancient civilisations to fashion some of the first tools. A handsome block of black obsidian originally discovered at Sandy Braes in South Derry figures.

“Ancient cultures, including in the Andes and Central America, used these types of stone to fashion axes, arrows and mirrors. They also used them here in Ireland to make mirrors.

"I've started creating this encounter between this mineral that was significant for ancient cultures,” he says.

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A handsome block of black obsidian originally discovered at Sandy Braes in South Derry figures.A handsome block of black obsidian originally discovered at Sandy Braes in South Derry figures.
A handsome block of black obsidian originally discovered at Sandy Braes in South Derry figures.

Balesca notes how an historiographical narrative developed over the ages that tried to suggest humans were hard-wired towards extractivism and the exploitation of the earth.

“I'm not 100 per cent sure about that concept. I find it problematic,” he notes.

It’s a prescient intervention given the quantity of rare earth minerals that will have to be mined to sustain the anticipated demand for electric cars into the future.

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Balesca has been blown away by the extent to which cars dominate Derry.

"When I moved to Derry I started seeing the city and I began to see it was city completely ruled by cars. In South America it is more or less the same.

"I'm trying to figure out how this automobile industry has impacted on the configuration of land.

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"Definitely in Derry it is a thing that is quite remarkable in terms of the parking lots, how the bridges connect the two sides of the river, and how you configure the whole territory of the city in that sense,” he says.

One of three films that will be displayed on screens mounted on old railway sleepers features none other than Eamonn McCann, the indefatigable Bogsider, rail campaigner and political and environmental activist.

"I created a portrait with Eamonn who is a political figure in the fight for the railways. It was shot on the old rail tracks along the Foyle.

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"My impression is that the railway system has decayed completely from what it was.”

More widely the work will examine the defence mechanisms that shield humanity from the immediacy and precariousness of global pollution and degradation.

Employing a diverse array of mediums—including film, sound, archives, and sculpture—the project asks, how has automobile culture shaped our environment?

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‘Nyctalopia’ opens at the Void Art Centre on Saturday, June 22, 2024, 6-8pm. Everyone is welcome, and bring your own bottle encouraged.

Prior to the launch ‘Entranced Earth: on film, extraction and land’, a short screening programme with Adrián, Emily McFarland and Nollaig Molloy takes place on Friday, June 21, from 6 to 8pm, at the Nerve Centre.

The films that will be screened include Adrián Balseca’s In Praise of Darkness (2024), Emily McFarland’s Curraghinalt (2021) and Nollaig Molloy’s Worth Your Salt (2020).

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