CHRISTIAN HOUGE – Buer Gallery (2024)

‘Death of a Mountain’
2016-2020
In `Death of a Mountain`, explores environmental issues we face in the age of the Anthropocene, the current geological age where human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. The series examines the fragility of nature and warns of the effects of our ignorance and lack of connection. The images are an homage to an ancient giant. As if tens of thousands of years culminated into an organism`s last breath of life.

Glaciers are still being taken for granted as millions of people who see them as a necessity for their survival and an integral part of the natural landscape. Scientists warn that the worlds glaciers will be gone in less than one hundred years if we don’treduce global warming.

The Swiss glaciers have always been a reference to the worlds glaciers and global climate change. Covering parts of the Rhone glacier in Switzerland with white fabric to halt glacial melting serves as a metaphor for Mans feeble attempt to stop the inevitable over time. The draping of fabric has not only protected the glacier, but just as with the installations of Christo’s famous work `Shoreline (1969), it helps to re-contextualize and
de-familiarize a well-known natural setting and reveal the essential form.

The glacier serves as a microcosm of several issues facing the current environmental situation as forests disappear, species go extinct and temperatures, as well as oceans, continue to rise rapidly.

The format I have chosen is a 6 x17 cm. analog panoramic film which requires a patient process and technical skill. The photographs are abstractions, sometimes resembling a death veil, war-torn ruins, still objects, or wet bodies covered with cloth providing a strong cognitivedissonance of both beauty and decay.

I`ve been working on the Rhone glacier in Switzerland on several trips from 2016-2020.

Exploring Man`s condition and the relationship between Man and Nature has been an ongoing theme in Houges work throughout the pasttwo decades.

www.christianhouge.no

Christian Houge (born in Oslo 1972)

2020
`Facing Fire`, Collaborative, California Museum of Photography, L. A.
`Metafysica`, (`Residence of Impermanence`),collaborative, Haugar
Kunstmuseum, Vestfold

2019
`Residence of Impermanence`, Fotografiska Museum, Stockholm. Solo
`Helt Dyrisk`(`Residence of Impermanence`,), collaborative, Preus Museum, Horten
`Residence of Impermanence`, Galleri Fineart, Oslo. Solo

2018
`Transfiguration`, Galleri Balder, Oslo w/ Andres Serrano, Christer Strømholm
`Into the Light`, Galleri Balder, Oslo. Collaborative

2017
`Shadow Within/Rituals` Gulden Kunstverk, Drammen. Solo
Commission, MAAEMO restaurant. `In;Human Nature`
`Mirror,Mirror` Hosfelt Gallery, San.Fran. Collaborative w/Ed Ruscha,
Adam Fuss, Liliana Porter

2016
`InHuman Nature`, TM51 Gallery, Oslo. Solo
Fotofever/ParisPhoto, Louvre, ParisCornette de Saint Cyr, Auction, Paris

2015
Three Shadows Photography Art Center, Beijing, China. `Paradise Lost` .
`Arctic Technology/Barentsburg`/ Shadow Within. Solo
Fotofever (ParisPhoto), Artistics Art Gallery, Paris. Collaborative
How Art Museum, Wenzhou, China. `Paradise Lost`
Arctic Technology/Barentsburg/Shadow Within. Solo
Redtory, Guangzhou, China. `Paradise Lost`
Arctic Technology/Barentsburg/Shadow Within. Solo

2014
Fineart Gallery, Oslo `Shadow Within` 2010-2013 / `Darkness Burns Bright`
2013/2014. Solo
Beyond Earth Art • (contemporary artists and the environment)
Johnson Museum of Art, New York. Shadow Within. Collaborative
(incl. Olafur Eliasson, Edward Burtynsky, Mathew Brandt, Yun-Fei Ji
amongst others)
The El Paso Museum of Art, Texas. `Arctic Technology`. Collaborative
Glenbow Museum, Alberta. `Arctic Technology`. Collaborative
LIFF (Lofoten International Photofestival)
`Shadow Within` w/speaking. Solo

2013
Nominated for the Prix Pictet Award/ `Shadow Within`.
Hosfelt Gallery, San.Fran. USA. `Shadow Within`. Solo
Accompanied by Call of the Wild`( Joseph Beuys, Ed Ruscha, Patricia
Piccinini and Alan Rath)
Carnegie, Oslo, Arctic Technology` series. Commission.
`Vanishing Ice` Tour, USA/Canada, Whatcom Museum 2013-2015.
Publication `Vanishing Ice`, Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art, 1775-2012
Author: Barbara Matilsky.
Altered Landscapes: Photographs of a changing environment (Impact of
human activity on natural landscapes)
by Ann M. Wolfe. Rizzoli Publications.

2012
Vanishing Ice, Whatcom (Museum of Washington), USA, 2012.
`Arctic Technology`. Collaborative
Public speaking, Ambassadors residence, London. `Shadow Within`.

2010
Akershus Kunstsenter, Oslo. `Arctic Technology`. Collaborative
`In full color`, Hosfelt Gallery, New York.
Arctic Technology/ Barentsburg. Collaborative

2009
Nominated for the Prix Pictet Award with the series `Barentsburg`.
Hosfelt Gallery, San. Fran, `Arctic technology/Barentsburg`. Solo
AntArctica, Haugar Kunstmuseum. Collaberative
`The coldest winter`, Hosfelt Gallery, San. Fran. Collaborative

2008
`Arctic technology` Hosfelt Gallery, New York, USA, Solo

Gardemoen Airport,10-year Anniversary Oslo. Public(Arctic Technology)
Oslo Sentral Station/Rom for Kunst, Oslo. Public (Arctic Technology)

2007
ArtBasel/Scout Gallery,London, Miami. Collaborative
PhotoLondon Fair, Zebra Gallery London. Collaborative
Annual Grants exhibition Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo. Collaborative
Annual grants exhibition Fotogalleriet, Oslo. Collaborative
Defence Ministry H.Q. Oslo. Commission(Arctic Technology)

2006
Sotheby’s London. Collaborative auction
Zebra One, London. Collaberative
Annual Grants exhibition, Oslo. Collaborative
Defence Ministry H.Q. `Arctic Technology. Oslo. Commission

2005
Scout Gallery, London. `Arctic Technology`, Solo
BMW Awards, Paris Photo. `Arctic Technology`. Collaborative
Paris Photo, Louvre, Paris, Scout Gallery (London). Collaborative
Arctic Technology/ Barentsburg
PhotoLondon Fair (Scout Gallery, London). Collaborative

2003
Annual grants exhibition, Kunstnerenes Hus, Oslo. Collaborative
Økokrim, Oslo, Commission. Public
Eiendommspar, Oslo. Commission. Public

2002
Autumn grants exhibition, Kunstnernes hus, Oslo. Collaborative

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