Līga Spunde (b. 1990) is a Latvian contemporary artist known for her multimedia installations that intricately blend personal narratives with fictional elements. She earned her MA from the Art Academy of Latvia in 2016, where her graduation project, The Hike, was recognised by the Startpoint Prize jury as one of the top three European art school degree projects. During her studies, she also received the Ināra Tetereva Art Scholarship.
Spunde’s artistic practice is defined by a deep engagement with the digital age and societal dynamics. Her works explore the tensions between personal and collective experience, often drawing on internet culture, mythology, pop culture and archetypes. Recurring themes include digital surveillance, online ‘hate culture’, the supernatural in the mundane, and existential anxieties stemming from instability and overprotection. Her installations incorporate a wide range of media – digital drawing, video projection, photography, sculpture, painting and found objects – chosen according to the conceptual needs of each project.
She frequently uses recognisable characters or tropes to mirror contemporary society, extending her own experiences into universal commentary. This unique approach, rich in cultural references and visual layering, positions her as one of Latvia’s most prominent digital artists. Her signature aesthetic, influenced by video games like The Sims and internet iconography, challenges viewers to see history, memory and current events through a distorted but insightful lens.
Spunde has exhibited widely across Europe and the United States, including notable solo shows such as Episodes About Not Knowing (Southeastern Louisiana University Contemporary Art Gallery, Hammond, United States, 2024), A Panic Attack on a Sunny Day (Tuesday to Friday Gallery, Valencia, Spain, 2023), The Real Show (CAC Brétigny, France, 2022), and My Bitter Sweet Frankenstein Body (Titanik Gallery, Turku, Finland, 2022). Other significant exhibitions include Being Safe Is Scary at Survival Kit 11 (Riga, 2020), When Hell Is Full, the Dead Will Walk the Earth (Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, 2019) and Free French Fries (Gallery Komplot, Belgium, 2017).
Her works are included in public and private collections across Europe, most notably the Latvian National Museum of Art, which holds major pieces such as When Hell is Full, the Dead Will Walk the Earth (2019), Mirror (2019), and The Sims. A Very Boring Game (2019). These works reflect her sustained critique of digital life and mark an institutional embrace of contemporary, media-rich practices. Spunde has also participated in prestigious international residencies, including the International Studio & Curatorial Program in New York (2023) and at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul (2024), further cementing her growing international presence. She was nominated for Latvia’s national Purvītis Prize in both 2020 and 2022.
