Ene-Liis Semper
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Ene-Liis Semper | |
|---|---|
| Born | 4 April 1969 Tallinn, Estonia |
| Citizenship | Estonian |
| Alma mater | Estonian Academy of Arts |
| Occupations | Video artist, performance artist, scenographer, theatre director |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Known for | FF/REW, Licked Room, Theatre NO99, Unified Estonia |
| Awards | Order of the White Star, V class |
Ene-Liis Semper (born 4 April 1969) is an Estonian video artist, performance artist, scenographer and theatre director.[1][2] She studied scenography at the Estonian Academy of Arts and first came to prominence in the 1990s for video and performance works centred on corporeality, risk and psychological tension.[1][2] In 2001 she represented Estonia at the Venice Biennale, where Harald Szeemann selected her video FF/REW for the international exhibition Plateau of Humankind.[1] Since 2004 she has been closely associated with Theatre NO99, which she founded with Tiit Ojasoo and led as one of its creative heads until the theatre closed in 2018.[3][4]
Semper was born in Tallinn on 4 April 1969.[1] She studied scenography at the Estonian Academy of Arts from 1989 to 1995.[1][2] According to theatre scholar Anneli Saro, Semper had already gained notice as a video and performance artist during her student years; from 1993 onward she exhibited works that explored corporeality, often using her own body and a distinctly theatrical visual language.[2]
Visual art
Semper's works frequently stage physically demanding actions or emotionally charged situations in order to probe questions of identity, power and vulnerability.[1] Among her best-known early works are Fundamental (1997), FF/REW (1998), Oasis (1999) and Licked Room (2000–2003).[1][4] In 2000 she participated in Manifesta 3 in Ljubljana,[4] and in 2001 she represented Estonia at the 49th Venice Biennale; the same year, Harald Szeemann included FF/REW in Plateau of Humankind, the biennale's international exhibition.[1]
Her solo exhibitions have included shows at the Tallinn Art Hall in 2002, Galerie Martin Janda in Vienna in 2004, the Kumu Art Museum in 2011, and the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia in 2024.[4][5][6] The 2024 EKKM exhibition was her first solo exhibition in more than thirteen years.[6]
Theatre
Semper also established herself as a set and costume designer, working with Estonian directors including Mati Unt and Hendrik Toompere.[2] In 2004 she and Tiit Ojasoo became the leaders of the state-funded Vanalinnastuudio and set about reorganising it into what became Theatre NO99.[3][4] Semper remained one of NO99's founders and creative leaders until its closure in 2018.[4]
Scholars and critics have described NO99 as a major force in twenty-first-century Estonian theatre. Anneli Saro wrote that the company was regarded as the country's first political theatre and that its work changed the field of Estonian theatre "dramatically".[7] One of its most discussed projects was Unified Estonia, a staged fictional political movement that culminated in a convention at Saku Suurhall in May 2010. According to theatre researcher Eva-Liisa Linder, the event drew more than 7,200 people and became one of the largest theatre events in modern European theatre history.[8] Semper also developed the concept for the annual Estonian theatre awards trophy Theodori silm ("Theodore's Eye"), first introduced in 2006 and executed in glass by Ivo Lill.[9]
NO99's work toured internationally, with productions appearing at venues and festivals including the Wiener Festwochen, the Lyric Hammersmith, the Münchner Kammerspiele and the Théâtre de l'Odéon.[4] In 2017 the theatre received the Europe Prize New Theatrical Realities.[10]
Semper was invited professor of the liberal arts at the University of Tartu in the 2010–2011 academic year.[11] She later joined the Estonian Academy of Arts, where she has served as professor and head of the scenography department.[12]
