Līga Spunde

Līga Spunde is a younger generation multimedia artist, whose work centres on observing the absurd and the supernatural encountered in everyday events and their relationships. Her works are often retellings of some deeply personal story, which prompts the viewer to doubt objective and subjective truth. “Mirror” and  “The Sims. A Very Boring Game” are part of the installation “When Hell is Full, the Dead will Roam the Earth“, in which the artist explores the cruelty lurking beneath everyday communication and information exchange on the internet, and analyses “hate culture,” which may turn into real and horrible activities online.

The installation is based on a real event in a Riga office, where the daily routine is interrupted by a management decision to immediately fire half the workforce. This is just the beginning of terrifying discoveries. It turns out that for two and a half years the fired employees have been engaging in hateful chatting about the other staff. The content of the chats revealed not just casual abuse and passive aggressive humiliation, but also murder plans.

The animation projection “Spogulis” was inspired by the visual image of a mirror in the Disney animation film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.” Spunde has compared the queen’s magic mirror to today’s computer screens, which enable us to spy on, observe and influence other people’s lives while remaining in a comfortably invisible position.  

“The Sims. A Very Boring Game” is a digital drawing featuring characters and aesthetics from the popular simulation game The Sims. Simulating real life with all its humdrum details, the game often transforms in the virtual sphere as players act out their most brutal fantasies.

Mirror. 2019.

The Sims. A Very Boring Game. 2019.

When Hell is Full, the Dead will Roam the Earth. 2019.