Saunica

Saunica transforms the sauna into a resonant, listening space where sound and heat become entwined. Inside the sauna, sustained tones emerge from custom-built wooden organ pipes, filling the room with a soft, breath-like sonic presence. The tuning of the pipes becomes an index of the temperature of the air: as varying heat subtly bends the tones, producing slow undulating patterns. Listening becomes inseparable from sensing heat as the entire body participates in joining these phenomena together. 

By merging acoustic sound and temperature, the work foregrounds relationships that are usually felt but rarely perceived together. Heat and sound both act directly on the body, shaping mood, awareness, and attention. The respiratory nature of the organ—air set into motion to create tone—mirrors our own dependence on breath, drawing a parallel between the instrument, the listener, and the surrounding climate.

At a moment when saunas are newly framed as a wellness trend, this work considers the longer view of saunas as immersive media environments where nature, architecture, and elemental forces converge. Saunica forms a site where subtle technological intervention reveals new ways of sensing, attuning, and reflecting on our shared environment.

Presented with Public Sweat

installation

support

  • Canada Council for the Arts
  • BC Arts Council