On 18 May, performance artist and theatre director Taavet Jansen successfully defended his doctoral dissertation at the Estonian Academy of Arts, titled Disembodied Presence: A Conceptual and Practical Mapping of Streaming Theatre. In his research, Jansen explores how theatre can create a sense of presence and liveness when audiences and performers are not physically co-present.

The dissertation was supervised by Anu Allas (Estonian Academy of Arts). The opponent was Ott Karulin (University of Tartu), and the doctoral committee comprised Jaana Päeva (Chair), Linda Kaljundi, Kirke Kangro, Ülo Pikkov, and external members Indrek Ibrus and Liina Unt.

The dissertation examines streaming theatre as an autonomous form of performance and places it within the broader history of digital culture and the performing arts—from nineteenth-century théâtrophone systems and radio drama to today's interactive online platforms. Rather than viewing streaming theatre as a temporary solution born out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jansen argues that it represents a possible theatre of the future, expanding our understanding of what theatre can be. The practice-based artistic research is built around three experimental streaming performances - Hundid (Wolves), Memento, and Inimeses hoitud (Held Within the Human). Through these works, Jansen investigates how real-time interaction, technical disruptions, and hybrid performance spaces shape the audience's experience. The performances therefore function simultaneously as artistic works and as research instruments.

Taavet Jansen's doctoral dissertation, Disembodied Presence: A Conceptual and Practical Mapping of Streaming Theatre, is available in the EKA Digital Archive.