Purveyors of: Sweaty serenity, community art, swimsuit enthusiasts
File next to: Park Yoga, the YMCA
Appearing: Wavelength Summer Thing, August 10 @ Trillium Park (955 Lake Shore Blvd W.)
Public Sweat is a unique meeting of art and sauna culture. Sweat bathing is a global practice known for physical and social benefits. From the team behind Art Spin, Public Sweat transforms any location into a community space. Wavelength’s Lian McMillan talked to them about their upcoming installation at 2024’s Wavelength Summer Thing.
WL: Public Sweat was partly inspired by your travels to Scandinavia. What community and cultural values stuck out to you during that time?
PS: Although Public Sweat was conceived well before we traveled to Norway and Finland, there were some interesting ideas and values that we did take from that research trip which influenced Pubic Sweat. Key among them was the strong role that pleasure and social interaction play in sauna culture, particularly in Finland. Unlike North American sauna culture which seems to privilege notions of health and wellness, as if pleasure alone were not sufficient. Here we find that saunas are typically located in spa-like spaces that are often anti-social and geared to satisfy the needs of the individual rather than the communal, whereas the experiences we had in Finland and Norway stood in stark opposition to this, something we really wanted to recreate with Public Sweat.
There was one sauna in particular in Helsinki called Sompasauna that was completely volunteer run, open to the general public every day of the year, 24 hours a day, free of charge, that really embodied these values and created a sense of community that we found to be deeply inspiring.
WL: How does music and art interact with the sauna experience?
PS: It is not very common for music and art to interact with the sauna experience, which is why Public Sweat is so unique. We see the highly embodied experience of having a sauna as a powerful way to create new contexts, as well as a more relaxed and open frame of mind, that makes people more receptive to engaging with art. We believe this was something that proved to be true for people visiting our Public Sweat festival [at Harbourfront Centre] in 2023.
In a more festival context like at Wavelength’s Summer Thing, the sauna can be a great complement to the experience of a big live performance, it’s a place to escape to and refresh, meet new people, and ultimately gives you a renewed energy to take back to the concert experience.
WL: What songs are on your sauna playlist?
PS: We have worked with a handful of amazing local artists to do live performances at Public Sweat, either in the sauna or nearby in a resting space to complement the hot/cold thermal cycle. Our sauna playlist would include low tempo and ambient tracks by some of the artists we’ve gotten to work with; Bobby Gadda, Eejungmi, Felipe Sena, Halpo, IRL, L CON, LordAUK, Masahiro Takahashi, Moon King, New Chance, NPNP, Ozone, and Short Bloom.
WL: How should people prepare for Mobile Sweat?
PS: There is not much to it, our mobile sauna will be open to anyone who is interested in joining us on a first come first serve basis. All you need to bring is a bathing suit and towel. A robe, water bottle and sauna hat are also a good idea if you have them, but are not essential.
We also suggest people prepare by not coming to sauna on a full stomach or after having consumed more than a couple of drinks of alcohol for best results, but definitely take advantage of the renewed sense of appetite and thirst you’re likely to feel after your sweat!
Don’t miss Public Sweat on August 10th at Trillium Park as part of Summer Thing 2024. RSVP here!
– Interview by Lian McMillan