Tjentište (detail), Echoes of Utopia

Tjentište (detail) is a photograph by Christian Houge from the Echoes of Utopia series. It represents a detail of the Valley of Heroes by Miodrag Živković (1971), a war memorial commemorating the 1943 Battle of the Sutjeska. This series is on sale for the first time on Artistics.

The Echoes of Utopia series (2025) explores the remnants of the abandoned Spomeniks in the former Yugoslavia. These concrete memorials, whose name means “monument” in Serbo-Croatian, were erected under Tito’s regime, primarily between the 1960s and 1980s, to honour the victims and heroes of the Second World War. These are often monumental buildings, characterised by abstract forms and a brutalist aesthetic with futuristic overtones. Once emblems of collective identity, progress and utopian ideals, most Spomeniks fell into neglect after the break-up of Yugoslavia. Yet they continue to captivate with their strong visual power and the collective memory they embody.

For this series, Christian Houge decided to use the wet collodion technique – a photographic process discovered by the British photographer Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. Renowned for its unique, organic and exceptional quality, this process is nevertheless highly complex, involving intricate chemical processes and very long processing times, which explains why it is rarely used. The photographer opted for this technique because it involves a degree of unpredictability and echoes the fragility of living things and the transience of collective memory.

“The imperfections of the process—chemical veils, cracks, ghostly anomalies—are not corrected but embraced, echoing the erosion and uncertainty etched into the monuments themselves. The silver images shimmer with otherworldly tones in collodion alchemy, transforming solid concrete into spectral forms, softening hard edges, and inviting new emotional interpretations of these politically charged structures. […] Through the alchemy of this process, these monuments are recontextualized—not as relics of propaganda, nor as obsolete war memorials, but as poetic thresholds between past and present, utopia and aftermath. They become luminous apparitions, suspended in time, reflecting both the grandeur of their original intent and the melancholy of their abandonment. In an age of digital speed, AI and historical amnesia, `Echoes of Utopia` invites the viewers to slow down, to look deeper, and to reflect on the impermanence of power, the fragility of memory, and the strange beauty that arises when two distant eras – concrete modernism and photographic romanticism – collide.” Christian Houge

This photograph has been exhibited at the Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall in Arendal, Norway, as part of Christian Houge’s solo exhibition Lost Paradise in 2025.

The photograph offered for sale is a limited-edition print, not the original photograph taken using the wet collodion technique. The original image was scanned from a wet collodion plate, then printed as a limited-edition Archival pigment print on cotton paper.

Preparation and delivery times for the artwork:
The preparation time ranges from 1 to 5 business days, EXCEPT if the print has not yet been made or must be mounted/framed. In that case, the turnaround time will be approximately five business days for a simple print and up to two or three weeks to print and mount and/or frame the photograph.
The shipping time, which is in addition to the production and preparation time, varies depending on the country of origin and the destination country. It can take anywhere between 1 and 15 business days. As soon as the carrier picks up the parcel containing your order, you will receive a confirmation email with a tracking number you can use to check the status of your shipment by logging in to the carrier’s website.

Shipping times and conditions: we work with the most respected carriers on the market to offer you the best service at the best price. Shipping fees, which are billed to the buyer, are indicated in the shopping cart after you have entered and confirmed the shipping address. The fees are determined according to a scale that depends on the dimensions and weight of the artwork ordered, the address of origin and the shipping address.

International delivery: the international carriers with which we work, including FedEx and DHL, deliver to more than 200 countries and territories around the world. Thus, your country is probably one of the covered areas. If that is not the case, please email us so that we can find a solution.

Insurance: Artistics insures each shipment under a policy that covers the risks of loss or damage to your order while it is being transported to the shipping address you provide. The cost of this insurance is included in the shipping fees. If your order is damaged upon delivery, you should flag the issue with the carrier, then contact us so that we can respond as quickly as possible.

Custom duties: if the order is shipped from or to a non-EU member country, your invoice does not include taxes. Any customs duties, local taxes or import duties are the buyer’s responsibility. As such, we encourage you to contact the relevant authorities in your country of residence to obtain more information.

Free returns: if for any reason, you are not satisfied with your purchase, you can return it free of charge within 14 days of receipt of your package: we will send a carrier to pick up the piece and we will cover the return shipping fees. You will be reimbursed for the order amount after we have received the work in perfect condition.

For more information, go to our Buyer FAQ section or contact us by phone at +331.40.28.92.28 or by email at contact@artistics.com.

Artistics accepts payment by bank card, check (if it is drawn on a bank in France), wire transfer and PayPal.

Bank card. We accept major credit cards: Visa, MasterCard, CB and American Express. Payments made on our website are completely secure as they are processed by our banking partner, the CIC. Your banking information is encrypted and sent to the CIC and is never handled by Artistics.

Bank check: The check must be payable in France (i.e., the bank branch that issues the check must be registered in France). Please make the check payable to Artistics and mail it, along with a photocopy or a scan of your legal ID or passport, to: Artistics – 16 rue de Turbigo – 75002 Paris – France. Please write your name and order number on the back of the check. If you choose this payment method, please note that your order will not be processed until we receive the check.

Wire transfer: If you choose this payment method, please note that your order will not be processed until we receive the wire on our bank account. After your order is confirmed, we will email you the information needed to send the wire transfer.

PayPal

Regardless of the type of payment method chosen, you will receive a confirmation email a few minutes after your payment has been approved. You can also access this information on your personal account on our website.

For more information, go to our Buyer FAQ section or contact us by phone at +331.40.28.92.28 or by email at contact@artistics.com.