As part of the Swedish Design Moves Paris season, inside the Swedish Institute’s garden in Kiruna, Swedish Lapland, the artist duo Bigert & Bergström set up a sauna. A golden egg design covered in mirrors awaits on the outdoors combining tradition and modernity. I has five meters high and four meters wide, it is inspired by the relationship to the light of the Far North, where the light conditions change radically with the seasons, from 24 hours of darkness in winter to midnight sun in summer.
According to artists Mats Bigert and Lars Bergström: “Saunas are sacrosanct places where you can discuss everything from the most innocuous to the most important. ” Heated over a wood fire, its central fireplace takes on the anatomical shape of a heart that makes this sauna a warm and welcoming place, designed to encourage conversation and promote well-being.
Fun Detail: A law of 1725 officially bans saunas in Sweden for moral reasons. The law has since fallen into oblivion and is therefore not enforced even though it has never been lifted! Despite this fact, there are around 500 000 saunas in Sweden for it’s total of 9 million inhabitants. An increasing number since 5 years.
The sauna will be functioning for a total of three weekends, starting on November 25th until December 10th.
