Echoes of Utopia — Christian Houge at Art Forward Gallery

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.

Location: Art Forward Gallery, 12-14 Whitfield Street, London, W1T 2RF
Nearest Station: Goodge Street, via northern line
Date: 15 October — 31 October 2026
Opening Times: Tuesday to Friday 11:00 am — 6:00 pm and by appointment on Saturday