Suspensión I

Suspensión I revisits the archetype of an exuberant and paradisiacal land, transgressing the popular game of colonial times, known in the South American region as “cucaña” or “palo encebado”. A tall balsa tree trunk, endemic to the subtropical jungles of Ecuador, has been cut down and from it, in the middle of Amazonian forest, containers containing local fossil fuels are suspended. The image of the light but strong trunk (the lightest of its kind) is a playful vehicle that supports and hangs the “trophies” of modern progress. The energy paradigm fed the emancipatory dreams of modern societies; Adrián Balseca’s artistic work opposes the momentum of accumulation and individualism of late capitalism, other ways of being in the world that include solidarity, collectivism, materiality and questioning wealth as a form of power based on the extraction of fossil fuels.