Something is changing, I can no longer make sense of what here means, as I increasingly feel that while I am here, I am also always a little bit there. There, where my thoughts are, there where my imagination roams — and not only mine, but someone else’s as well, simultaneously. It is real. I am always inside a body, in this form that makes me visible and touchable; yet I am also always in a space, where no one can see me. It is a space of thought, an ever-present network, a movement. I am here, held in human, Rose in Your Brain.
What does it mean to be in a body?
This performance is a second iteration of the artistic research project Held in Human, exploring presence, attention, and space through collective storytelling. It unfolds as a poetic space for thought—a choreography of thinking and a three-dimensional reading experience.
Language: English
Suitable for ages: 7+
Content warnings: We use VR headsets with see-through functionality, allowing participants to perceive both the physical environment and the aligned virtual layer. Hands are free; no controllers are required. The audience may move freely and follow their own curiosity. So far, all participants who wear glasses have been able to take part, either with or without their own glasses inside the headset. However, very large frames may not fit inside the headset.
Liis Vares is a choreographer playing in the midfield of performing and fine arts. Her practice focuses on spatial relations, and the shifting conditions of presence in physical, online, and extended reality (XR) environments. Liis teaches improvisation, inclusive dance and theatre practice, and performance art at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy and in the Estonian Academy of Arts. Her recent collaborations with Taavet Jansen and XR developer Norbert Pape include the mixed-reality works HELD IN HUMAN II: Rose in Your Brain (2024) and STILL MOVING (2024). She continues her long-term artistic practice, Anthropologies of Space, which examines how bodies, technologies, and environments co-shape attention and meaning.
Taavet Jansen’s work oscillates around in hybrid spaces trying to connect virtual with the physical. His main tools are body movement, digital technologies, text and generated imagery – his current focus is on audience engagement in hybrid and mixed-reality artspaces. Taavet also teaches creative coding, practice based research and visual theatre at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy and he is currently completing a PhD at the Estonian Academy of Arts. In recent years, his main research and artistic project, Held in Human, created in close collaboration with Liis Vares, has examined the artistic potential of hybrid spaces.
Baltic Take Over is a performing arts festival that takes place in a different city each time. On 8-10 May 2026, Baltic Take Over will map its way through Stockholm. Initiated and co-curated by New Theatre Institute of Latvia, Kanuti Gildi SAAL (Estonia), and Lithuanian Dance Information Centre since 2023, the festival presents performances by artists primarily working in Baltic countries. In Stockholm, Baltic Take Over comes to life in collaboration with STHLM DANS, Konträr, höjden studios and Tranströmer Library.
