All I see is the present (2026)

Combining sound, photography, installation, and archival material, Christopher Steenson’s exhibition All I see is the present explores the ways in which moments from prehistory can be used as a gateway to the present. Presented at CCA Derry~Londonderry, the exhibition is the first manifestation of Christopher Steenson’s long-term engagement with research exploring the prehistoric past of the island of Ireland.

A centrepiece of the exhibition is a new slide projection-based work, titled The Dragon’s Teeth (2026), which takes its inspiration from the Beaghmore Stone Circles and Alignments, located in the heart of the artist’s native home of East Tyrone. The work’s impetus comes from the artist’s research into the archaeology archives of HERoNI (Historic Environment Record of Northern Ireland) which unearthed a moment in 1977 when A.E.P. Collins (Senior Inspector of the Archeological Survey of Northern Ireland) invited Archie Thom (the son of then renowned archeo-astronomer Alexander Thom) to conduct an astronomical survey of Beaghmore, to uncover the celestial functions of the site. This moment is used to construct a fictional conversation between Collins and Thom, wherein these two men, in the later years of their life, attempt to discuss the meaning of Beaghmore as a prehistoric site. Inspired by Brian Friel’s Making History (1989), the work searches for understandings of why we attempt to interpret the past, and how these interpretations are inevitably shaped and informed by the predicaments of the present. Within the context of the exhibition, The Dragon’s Teeth (2026) is presented alongside artefacts found during the original excavations at Beaghmore, which were generously loaned from the National Museums NI collections.

Christopher’s interest in teasing apart the tensions between tenses plays out elsewhere in the exhibition with a series of analogue photographs taken while volunteering for the past two years on an ongoing archaeological dig. In these photographs, moments from the excavation resemble a construction site more than a place of study. For the artist, the photographs document the point where objects that have been buried and confined to the past are unearthed and become uncanny participants in the present.

The artist draws parallels between megalith builders and political activists. A film made by Derry filmmaker Vinny Cunningam (1966–2025) in September 1994 shows a group of men moving concrete bollards (sometimes referred to as ‘dragon’s teeth’) from a border road outside Derry. Presented alongside colour photographs of wedge tombs situated along Ireland south-west coast, the acts of dismantlement seen in Vinny’s film oddly mirror – what we can imagine to be – the acts of construction used by megalith builders from the island’s prehistoric past. The film’s sound track is overlaid with a new spatial sound work, titled The Movers (2026), featuring voices of people involved in helping to make the exhibition All I see is the present.

All I see is the present was presented at CCA Derry~Londonderry from 19 June – 12 September 2026.