Exhibition “Transcendence” – the sculptural Installation by Linda Līva Mora
The exhibition *Transcendence*, featuring a sculptural installation by Linda Līva Mora, is on display in the Small Exhibition Hall of the Mentzendorff’s House from September 19 to December 13.
Linda Līva Mora’s installation *Transcendence* serves as the artist’s 2026 master’s thesis project for the Visual Plastic Art specialization at the Art Academy of Latvia. The project was supervised by Ilze Dūdiņa, an artist and lecturer at the Academy.
The sculptural installation *Transcendence* comprises three human torsos at various stages of transformation, fragments of colored glass, and over 200 glass artworks presented in photographic format.
The artist Linda Līva Mora explains:
“The piece is rooted in an interest in affects—those small impulses, signals, and reactions that arise before we are even aware of or able to verbalize them. Everyday life is composed of many small moments that, over time, shape our emotional experiences, our relationship with our surroundings, and our capacity to feel. Photographs, the way light falls in a space, touches, the presence of animals, familiar places, people, and recurring daily situations all create affective associations—associations that often go unnoticed precisely because of their ordinariness.
During periods of emotional detachment, numbness, or insensitivity, these small moments take on heightened significance, as they trigger emotional reactions and gradually restore sensitivity. This concept is materialized in a spatial installation that combines torsos with glass elements presented in a photographic format.
The torso—the central area of the body—is the site where sensations, reactions, and internal states are experienced. The transformation of the torsos reveals a gradual shift from a state of closure and stasis to one of greater openness and sensitivity.
Colored glass fragments embedded in the surfaces of the torsos serve as visual markers of this change.
The glass elements are based on my personal photographic archive, which preserves fragments of daily life, spontaneous moments, people, animals, places, objects, and various sensory associations. During the creation process, the initial photographic material is fragmented, graphically stylized, and transformed, thereby forming more subjective fragments of experience.
In the course of creating this work, I developed a signature technique by experimenting with materials and various technical solutions to realize these pieces in glass.
Memory is perceived in the work as fragmentary and fluid. Over time, the details of specific events may become distorted, blurred, or lose their original form, yet the sensation and emotional imprint remain.
Consequently, the glass works become fragments of everyday experience linked to affective impulses and their accumulation. These impulses gradually influence one’s physical and emotional state—a process reflected in the work through the transformation of torsos.
In my practice, I work with diverse materials and forms, placing special emphasis on experimentation and the way a material can become an integral part of the work’s concept and the experience itself.
My works emerge from experiences, sensations, and the presence of the moment, which are transformed within my thought process into visual and material ideas. I work intuitively, yet the creative process remains open; the initial concept may shift if new necessities or possibilities arise as the work evolves.”
