Emerging from a range of educational initiatives, ISSP Gallery was established in 2018 as an artist run gallery project in Riga. It’s emphasis lays on lens-based media and photography’s interaction with other mediums such us text, sculpture, installation, sound etc., as well as its use within the everyday context.
At Supermarket 2020 we are presenting two Latvian artists - Līga Spunde and Andrejs Strokins, whose approach varies from multimedia installations to archival research.
In her work "When Hell is Full, the Dead Will Walk the Earth" Spunde focuses on the ruthlessness hidden behind forms of everyday communication and information exchange on the internet. She analyses “hate culture” not just online, but in various forms where users exchange chillingly inhuman texts, images and videos that can sometimes also turn into real, horrifying acts.
Themes of digital media influence are also present within Strokins work. Originally published in real time on his Instagram account, the images from the series "Cosmic Sadness" combine the immediacy of instant sharing and blue, grainy filters , commenting on the analogue nostalgia of the digital generation and offers a new take on street photography which embraces technological development rather than turns to the past.