Ene-Liis Semper

Ene-Liis Semper (born 4 April 1969) is an Estonian video artist, performance artist, scenographer and theatre director. 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.

Early life and education Semper was born in Tallinn on 4 April 1969. The 2024 EKKM exhibition was her first solo exhibition in more than thirteen years. 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. 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.

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.

Semper was invited professor of the liberal arts at the University of Tartu in the 2010–2011 academic year. She later joined the Estonian Academy of Arts, where she has served as professor and head of the scenography department.

Film With Tiit Ojasoo, Semper co-directed and co-wrote the documentary Ash & Money (Estonian: Kust tuleb tolm ja kuhu kaob raha?) in 2013. The film concerns the short-lived fictional party created for Unified Estonia and its 44-day political-theatre campaign. She has also won the Estonian Theatre Union's artist prize in 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2014, the Natalie Mei prize in 2009 and 2014, and the Estonian Theatre Union directing award in 2024 for Macbeth.

Selected works Fundamental (1997) FF/REW (1998) Oasis (1999) Licked Room (2000–2003) Unified Estonia (2010, with Theatre NO99) Ash & Money (2013, documentary film, with Tiit Ojasoo) Macbeth (stage production, with Tiit Ojasoo and Olari Elts)