LIIS VARES, TAAVET JANSEN
I Have Been Mixing It Up:
A Poetic Exploration of Thought in Virtual and Physical Space
/EST/
The work that is co-created with the audience this time is the third part of the poetic cycle of mixed reality by Taavet Jansen and Liis Vares, where the line between virtual and physical, visible and invisible is at once thin but clear. Just like in its predecessors “Held in Human: Blossom Blade Inside You” and “Still Moving”, words and meanings can be touched and shared with each other, thoughts and imaginations can be passed through and captured in a choreographic space, but unlike before, the virtual field of meaning and experience can be created by yourself. Over the course of three days, we build up our collective story, our dream and our reality, to be recorded in digital cultural history and body memory.
The mental roots of the work lie in apartment no 34, Gustav Adoff Street, Rakvere, that served as a refuge for Vares in 2020 - 2022. It was there that the first collaborations “The Reader” and “Where Are You?” combining digital and physical space by the artist duo were born.
Sveta Grigorjeva:
You certainly shouldn’t fear this novel experience-experience. First of all - the VR glasses also allow you to see what is happening in parallel “real life”. The virtual reality part is set inside within the good old conventional reality, quietly creating a small dislocation of perceptions that goes along with the experience of multiple reality: you are at once both here and there, both in the real and virtual world, reading not just with your eyes but with your hands and your whole body. In other words: perhaps the question of what is “real” becomes somewhat redundant here.
Duration: 20 min
Language: English or Estonian
Performances:
Fri, July 3 at 12.00–18.00 in Ukuaru muusikamaja (BUY TICKET, ticket sale starts at 15th of April at 12.00)
Sat, July 4 at 12.00–18.00 in Ukuaru muusikamaja (BUY TICKET, ticket sale starts at 15th of April at 12.00)
Sun, July 5 at 12.00–18.00 in Ukuaru muusikamaja (BUY TICKET, ticket sale starts at 15th of April at 12.00)
This is an installation intended for one person at a time. We recommend arriving at least 5 minutes before your scheduled time!
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Liis Vares is a local. A body diplomat working between performing and visual arts, she navigates embodied experience, spatial relations, and the shifting conditions of presence in physical, online, and extended reality (XR) environments. At the centre of her practice is the contemporary body: How does it feel to live in a body? What does it mean to be in a body? Alongside her artistic work, Vares is a guest lecturer in inclusive dance and theatre practices and in performance art at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy and the Estonian Academy of Arts.
Taavet Jansen is an artist-researcher exploring how digital and physical spaces can be interconnected. With a background in choreography and video art, he is now increasingly engaged in web-based art and the development of mixed-reality environments.
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. Taavet also works as a lecturer at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy, where he teaches creative coding and visual theatre. He is currently completing his PhD at the Estonian Academy of Arts, where his research focuses on creating a sense of aliveness and presence in streamed performance.
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Authors: Liis Vares, Taavet Jansen
XR solution and implementation by Norbert Pape
Sound Design: Mihkel Tomberg
Project Manager: Annika Üprus
Supported by: Estonian Academy of Arts, Dortmund Academy of Theatre and Digitality, vares.digital
