Exhibition
Christian Houge : Death Of A Mountain
14 May 2024 – 25 May 2024
Regular hours
- Monday
- Closed
- Tuesday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Wednesday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Thursday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Friday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Saturday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Sunday
- Closed
Free admission
Address
- 183-185 Bermondsey Street
- (adjacent to White Cube Bermondsey)
- London
England - SE1 3UW
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- C10 Victoria to Canada Water (Stop F Bermondsey Street)
- London Bridge - Borough
A solo exhibition of the ‘Death Of A Mountain’ photography series (2016-2020) by Norwegian photographer Christian Houge, exploring environmental challenges and examining our relation to Nature and environmental challenges we are facing, inviting new questions in the Anthropocene.
About
‘Death of a Mountain’ examines our relation to Nature and environmental challenges we are facing, inviting new questions in the Anthropocene. The series is also an homage to an ancient giant. As if tens of thousands of years culminated into an organism’s last breath of life. Scientists warn that the world’s glaciers will be gone within this century if we don’t reduce global warming dramatically. The covering of parts of the Rhone glacier in Switzerland with UV-resistant fabric to halt glacial melting represents Man’s feeble attempt to stop the inevitable in the near future. As with the installation of artist Christo’s “Shoreline” (1969), my exploration of this glacier helps me to re-contextualize a well-known natural setting. ‘Death of a Mountain’ invites the viewers to explore a connection to that which is being lost forever.
Based in Oslo, Norway, Christian Houge (b. 1972) has been making photographs for twenty five years, and new insights continue to open. Exploring humankind’s condition and the complicated relationship between Humankind and Nature has been an ongoing theme in his work throughout his life as an artist. By exploring this relation, Houge wishes to invite the viewers to ask new questions in the new era we are currently in; the Anthropocene. Houge often juxtaposes the visually aesthetic with an underlying sense of unease as this often emanates a cognitive dissonance in the viewer to invite deeper truths and personal references.
The series ‘Death of a Mountain’ (2016-2020) was nominated for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award in 2021, which also received an arts grant from the Norwegian Government. The solo show at Buer Gallery received much attention and was presented at OsloNegative Photo and exhibited at Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow, together with other Scandinavian artists concerned with the effects of climate change. This was set up with the climate summit opening COP26. This series was also exhibited at Huis van de Fotografie, Rotterdam, in 2021 including a climate symposium with the Norwegian Embassy in Haag.
Private View: Tuesday 14th May, 6-9pm
Artist Talk with Professor Ioan Fazey: Thursday 16 May, 6:30-8:30pm
