BALTIC TAKE OVER: HELD IN HUMAN: ROSE IN YOUR BRAIN

NOTE: The show is performed in Tranströmerbiblioteket, booking will be open soon – we’ll let you know.

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, to Konträr and as a part of the contemporary dance festival STHLM DANS. 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. 

Held in Human II: Rose in Your Brain
What does it mean to be in a body? A poetic exploration of thought in virtual and physical space.

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.

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.

Liis Vares is a choreographer working between performing and fine arts. Her practice focuses on spatial relations and shifting conditions of presence across physical, digital, and XR environments. She teaches improvisation, inclusive performance, and performance art at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy and 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 also continues her long-term project Anthropologies of Space.

Taavet Jansen works in hybrid spaces connecting the virtual and the physical. Using body movement, digital technologies, text, and generated imagery, he explores audience engagement in mixed-reality environments. He teaches creative coding, practice-based research, and visual theatre at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy and is currently pursuing a PhD at the Estonian Academy of Arts. His ongoing project Held in Human, developed in close collaboration with Liis Vares, investigates the artistic potential of hybrid spaces.

Language: English
Content warnings: VR headsets used during the performance
Suitable for ages: 7+

This performance is made possible thanks to Konträr’s subscribers.
Become one of them.