Photo exhibition: Presence of the Past. A European Album

The House of European History is presenting its first ever photo exhibition from 28 March 2025 to 11 January 2026. Entitled Presence of the Past. A European Album, the expo looks at our need for history and our interactions with the past, through more than a hundred photographs.

Far from being confined to museums or books, history plays a significant role in everyone’s lives: visits to places that have become tourist sites, commemorations and re-enactments of events, excavations, conservation or collections of ancient objects.

Expo poster. On the photo: Roger Cremers, Preparing for a Second World War re-enactment event in Ursel, Belgium, 2011

Interactions with the past can take many forms, and have a variety of purposes, such as ensuring links within a community, building identity, having fun or remembering certain tragedies.

27 photographic projects, from 14 countries, in 7 exhibition sections:

Destination history: Contemporary tourism transformed the past into something that can be visited.
Post-heroic commemorations: Dissatisfaction with official cultures of remembrance led Europeans to organise grassroots commemorations.
Re-enactments: Re-enactments are reconstructions of historical events, which focus on authenticity in every detail.
Hero-making: Does historical greatness endure?
De-commemoration: Can we make an unwanted past disappear by removing its monuments?
The past as landscape: Not everything is meant to be commemorated and enshrined as heritage. Forgetting is natural.
Everyday historians: The faster the present moves, the greater our need for anchors in the past.

Six students and recent alumni of the Photography Department of the École nationale supérieure des arts visuels de La Cambre in Brussels were invited to create a counterpoint to the themes and photographs curated by the museum.

Michael Pappas, Men wearing ritual costumes during Carnival in Naousa, Greece, 2019

Each section exhibits one such project, developed under the coordination of professors Hervé Charles and Olivier Thieffry. Visitors are invited to leave their mark in the exhibition by selecting, labelling and displaying old photographs, stepping into the shoes of a historian.

Also on the programme: Slow Looking Saturday – Take your time in ‘Presence of the Past’

Visitors can join tours on the first Saturday of each month from May to December to explore the exhibition at a different pace. Led by one of museum’s guides, take your time and look at one selected picture. Each session will focus on a different picture. Discover the full programme and selected pictures.

Smirna Kulenović, A grandmother, mother and daughter prepare to plant flowers in the former trenches from which Sarajevo was besieged between 1992 and 1996, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2023

Groups of 10-15 persons can also book a 90-minutes guided tours of the exhibition, offered in English, French, German or Dutch. The guided tour is based on public participation using the “Visible Thinking Method”, which encourages observations of the photographs before going into a facilitated discussion based on what is seen, reflections, interpretations, facts about the documentary photographs and concepts of the exhibition.

More info on House of European History website.

Practical info:
Presence of the Past. A European Album
Dates: 28.03.2025 > 11.01.2026
Address: House of European History, Rue Belliard 135, 1000 Brussels.
Free access.

Editorial Team

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