Contemporary Photography by Christian Houge

Christian Houge’s large-scale photographs document places of extreme isolation that seem to exist outside of time - either decades ahead of or behind the present. The images were taken on the island of Svalbard near the North Pole. Due to its pure atmosphere and northerly position, scientists have installed extensive technical constructions for climate research and space observations. These uncanny, snowy landscapes form the series “Arctic Technology.”

The “Barentsburg” and “Pyramid” series were taken in the Russian mining towns of the same names. After decades of prosperity during the Soviet era, these settlements have declined or shut down entirely. The few remaining people in Barentsburg seem frozen in time. The abandoned buildings of Pyramid speak to a Communist ideology of progress now relegated to history and entropy.