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Public Sauna, P.S.1 NY, 2000

Being born and raised in Finland , my understanding and experience of bathing in a
public sauna is very different from the cultural practice in most parts of the U.S.
As for most Finns, sauna bathing is a significant part of my identity. In the United
States , issues of nudity prevent an experience of a Finnish sauna event both socially
and physically. To further negotiate this cultural disjunction, I designed and built Public
Sauna in the court yard of P.S.1. and kept it open for the public to bathe.

This sauna is a two-sided box. A velvet curtain cuts through it, sandwiched between the
two joined boxes. There are two compartments, each for one bather only. Although the
curtain separates the bathers visually from each other, they have to negotiate their use
of hot steam to accommodate each other’s needs and thus interact socially and physically.

During the year of 2000, I gave baths to approximately one thousand visitors at P.S.1. After
the disarming physical experience of the hot steam in the sauna, most bathers became less
self-conscious of their nudity.

Click a picture to see a larger view.

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