Līga Spunde
Līga Spunde (b. 1990) is a visual artist based in Riga, Latvia. She presents her works as multimedia installations, intertwining personal stories with deliberate fiction. The interpretations and use of recognisable characters serve as an extension of her personal experiences, tapping into universal truths. The work’s content determines the conception’s physical form leading the artist to use various media and materials in her installations.
She completed her postgraduate studies in the Department of Visual Communication at the Art Academy of Latvia in 2016, her graduation project, The Hike, was named one of the three best projects by graduates of European art academies.
Spunde has participated in various exhibitions and art projects in Latvia and internationally. The most recent have been The Real Show (2022, CAC Brétigny, Paris), My Bitter Sweet Frankenstein Body (2022, Titanik, Turku), Screen Age III: Still Life (2022, Riga Photography Biennial, RMT, Riga), Cybervikings of Mars (2021, 427 Gallery, Riga), The Bambi Project (2021, Kogo Gallery, Tartu), Being Safe Is Scary, Survival Kit 11 (2020, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, Riga), When Hell Is Full, the Dead Will Walk the Earth (2019, Kim? Contemporary art centre, Riga), Melos (2019, Creative Art Space, Arsenāls, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga).
Exhibitions at Kogo
Press and Publications
Interviews with Līga Spunde:
A Strange Reality in Fictionalised Voices. A conversation with Liga Spunde. Echo Gone Wrong, 11.2.2021
Artist Interview with Līga Spunde in De:Formal, 5.4.2020
Artist Interview with Līga Spunde in Swarm Mag, 2.5.2021
CV
Līga Spunde, born in 1990, based in Riga, Latvia.
Education and Internship
| 2016-2017 | Komplot, Internship as a curatorial assistant, Brussels, BE; |
| 2014-2016 | Art Academy of Latvia, Department of Visual Communication MFA, Riga, LV; |
| 2015 | Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Department of InSitu3, MFA, Antwerp, BE; |
| 2010-2014 | Art Academy of Latvia, Department of Visual Communication, BFA, LV; |
| 2007-2010 | Janis Rozentals Riga Art School, Department of Multi-media and Photography design, Riga, LV |
Selected Solo Exhibitions
| 2022 | Episodes About Not Knowing How It Will Be as a part of the project A STRUCTURE ENVISIONED FOR CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES, Līga Spunde, curated by Maija Rudovska, an online exhibition; |
| 2022 | Last Harvest, Līga Spunde and Aleksandrs Breže, Maboca gallery Visuma Centrs 2, Madona, Latvia; |
| 2021 | Cybervikings of Mars, Līga Spunde, curated Kaspars Groševs, 427 Gallery, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2020 | Informalities as part of the exhibition series Weekly Discovery, Līga Spunde, curated by Rūdolfs Štamers, Uldis Trapencieris and Auguste Petre, Tu Jau Zini Kur, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2019 | When Hell Is Full, the Dead Will Walk the Earth, Līga Spunde, Kim? Contemporary Art Center, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2018 | Interlude, Līga Spunde in collaboration with Alvis Misjuns, curated by KVADRIFRONS, Riga Circus, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2017 | What’s a Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This / PART I, Līga Spunde, Fotopub, Novo Mesto, Slovenia; |
| 2017 | Free French Fries, Līga Spunde, Komplot, Brussels, Belgium; |
| 2017 | How a Well-known Local Art Historian Called Me Fat When I Was Nine Years Old, Līga Spunde in collaboration with Klāvs Mellis, curated by Maija Kurševa, Low Gallery, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2016 | The Hike, Līga Spunde, RIXC gallery, Riga, Latvia; |
Selected Group Exhibitions
| 2022 | Decolonial Ecologies, curated by Ieva Astahovska, Riga Art Space, Riga, 2022; |
| 2022 | Screen Age III: Still Life, curated by Inga Brūvere and Marie Sjøvold, Riga Photography Biennial 2022, Riga Art Space, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2022 | Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, “Tuesday to Friday” gallery, Valencia, Spain; |
| 2022 | The Real Show, curated by Agnès Violeau and Céline Poulin, assisted by Ariane Guyon, the CAC Brétigny, Paris, France; |
| 2022 | My Bitter Sweet Frankenstein Body, curated by Šelda Puķīte, Titanic gallery, Turku, Finland; |
| 2021 | The Bambi Project, curated by Šelda Puķīte, Kogo Gallery, Tartu, Estonia. |
| 2021 | Force(d) Majeure, curated by Zane Onckule, Elīna Drāke and Žanete Liekīte, Hanzas Perons in collaboration with Kim? Contemporary Art Center, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2021 | The Source of Power, curated by Kaspars Groševs, Noass,Riga, Latvia; |
| 2021 | Silver Spring, curated by Agnese Čemme, AG Gallery, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2020 | Baltic Young – The Garden of Forking Paths, curated by Nadya Blazhko, the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts in Kaliningrad, organized by the National Center for Contemporary Art, Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad, Russia; |
| 2020 | Being Safe Is Scary, SURVIVAL KIT 11, Latvian Center for Contemporary Art, Zemlika festival, Durbe, Latvia; |
| 2020 | Are We There Yet?, curated by Sabīne Vernere, Experimental Art Space of Art Academy Of Latvia PILOT, ArtVilnius, Vilnius, Lithuania; |
| 2020 | Are We There Yet?, curated by Sabīne Vernere, Experimental Art Space of Art Academy Of Latvia PILOT, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2020 | Being Safe Is Scary, curated by Katia Krupennikova, SURVIVAL KIT 11, Latvian Center for Contemporary Art, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2020 | True Grid, Unanimous Consent, Zurich, Switzerland; |
| 2019 | Black market, curated by Kaspars Groševs, Kim? Contemporary Art Center, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2019 | ISSPPP X + X, ISSP Gallery, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2019 | Kā skan, tā atskan, curated by Marta Trektere, No Moon, New York, USA |
| 2019 | The Artist Crisis Center, curated by Ieva Kraule-Kūna and Elīna Vītola, Low Gallery, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2019 | Champs-Élysées, curated by Marta Trektere and Kaspars Groševs, 427 gallery, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2019 | Melos, curated by Līna Birzaka-Priekule, Arsenals, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2019 | ENTER, curated by Evita Goze, Domu kulture Studentski grad, Belgrade Photo Month, Belgrade, Serbia; |
| 2018 | Screen Age I: Self-Portrait, curated by Inga Brūvere and Marie Sjovold, Riga Photography Biennial, Rigas Art Space, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2018 | Looking Outside, Looking Inside, curated by Alnis Stakle and Arnis Balčus, Mark Rothko Art Center, Daugavpils, Latvia; |
| 2017 | NNN, curated by Līga Marcinkeviča, Ojārs Pētersons and Maija Kurševa, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2017 | Pit stop on the way to dancing with cosmic forces, curated by Marta Barina, Kensington High St, W14 8NZ, London, United Kingdom; |
| 2017 | Blocker, curated by Popper magazine, Alma Gallery, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2017 | Start Point prize, Arti et Amiciatae, Amsterdam, Netherlands; |
| 2017 | Meet Me at The Metro Station, curated by Romuald Demidenko, Amsterdam, Netherland; |
| 2016 | Piezīmes par pašsaprotamām lietām, curated by Helēna Demakova, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia; |
| 2016 | Start Point prize, Prague National Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic; |
| 2016 | Estonian Photographic Art Fair, Curated by Rundum, Tallinn, EST |
| 2016 | Ancient relics, in collaboration with Jānis Klaučs, curated by Popper magazine, Barcelona, Spain; |
| 2016 | Disappearance is a trick, curated by Elaine Tam, Fotopub festival, Novo Mesto, SL |
| 2016 | Paintings and Sculptures, curated by Arnis Balčus, Riga Photomonth 2016, Riga, Latvia; |
Prizes and Scholarships
| 2020 | Nominated for the Purvītis Prize with the work There’s No Harm In Any Blessings, Latvia; |
| 2020 | Jaunrades veicināšanas stipendija – State Culture Capital Foundation grant for 2020, Latvia; |
| 2017 | Portfolio Review Dusseldorf Visitors Award, Germany; |
| 2016 | Start Point Prize, The Honorary mentions of the jury, Czech Republic; |
| 2016 | Fotopub Portfolio Prize, Slovenia; |
| 2014 | Art grant of patroness Inara Tetereva, Latvia; |
Residencies
| 2019 | Resident at LOW gallery, Riga, Latvia; |
Works in Collections
Latvian National Museum of Art, VV Foundation, Signet Bank collection and private collections in Latvia, Estonia and Switzerland.
Rūta Spelskytė