Christian Houge: Echoes of Utopia

Christian Houge explores Spomeniks, the monumental World War II memorials of the former Yugoslavia through the historic collodion wet plate process. These striking Brutalist structures are reimagined as poetic reflections on memory, ideology, and the passage of time. About Art Forward Gallery is proud to present Echoes of Utopia, a solo exhibition by Norwegian artist Christian Houge, exploring monumental architecture and collective memory of the former Yugoslavia through the historic process of collodion silver wet-plate photography. Taking place from 15 - 31 October 2026 at Art Forward Gallery, London, the exhibition brings together Houge’s haunting photographs of “Spomeniks”, the Brutalist World War II memorials scattered across the Balkans. Once conceived as powerful symbols of collective unity, progress and utopian vision, the Spomeniks now exist in varied states of decay, carrying with them the histories and ideals of a country that is no longer. They exist not only as monuments to a specific political moment, but also as markers of humanity’s enduring impulse to inscribe belief, hope, and power onto the land itself. Rather than documenting these structures as historical archives, Houge approaches them as sites through which memory, ideology and the passage of time can be reconsidered. His photographs transform the monuments into visual elegies, inviting reflection on impermanence, collective memory and the relationship between human fragility and monumental architecture. At the centre of the project is Houge’s use of collodion silver wet-plate photography, an almost forgotten analog photographic process dating from the 1850s. The resulting photographs create a striking dialogue between the permanence of Brutalist concrete and the fragile, ephemeral nature of the wet plates. Where the architecture appears monumental and immovable, the photographic process remains fluid and unpredictable. “I am not interested in creating a historical documentation of the Spomeniks, nor in reducing them to beautiful remnants of a vanished political era. I am interested in the space between these positions, between history and image, documentation and interpretation, memory and forgetting.” Christian Houge, Artist Read more Toggle Photography Film / Video