Artist: Christie Pearson
Collaborators: Kathryn Walter of FELT Studio; Sara Torrie of Sartoria; Rob Cruickshank, sound artist
Curated: Layne Hinton & Rui Pimenta, Art Spin
Event: Public Sweat Saunas by Artists
Site: Harbourfront Centre, Toronto
Completed: 2023
Published: Toronto Star, CBC Arts, NOW, The Buzz
Geospheric Sweatbath offers an elemental hot, dry space to counter the damp, cold season. Its structure is a custom cedar geodesic dome measuring 12 feet across and 8 feet at its highest point, designed for groups of 8 timed-entry bathers. Drawing on landscape elements and experiences of Ontario’s lakes and forests, it addresses diverse sweat bathing typologies from around the world in its form, materiality, and scale. It connects bathing, utopian communities, and the DIY spirit that continues to reinvigorate these traditions. The exterior is wrapped in soft layers which will not last forever. Crouching to enter, we must stay close to the ground once inside. Our skin and lungs breathe in the cedar structure’s oils, then expand into porous exchange with stone, wood, and felted wool. The open floor invites us to lie on our backs, warm as sun-heated granite long after dusk. Gazing upwards through an aperture we see the sky. The view and structure is reflected in the polished stone floor below, which subtly vibrates with a sub-sonic rhythm. Off-the-shelf heating elements convey the simple roots of sauna building with the cultivation of thermal delight in everyday spaces. Straddling above and below, between ideal form and vernacular improvisation, Geospheric Sweatbath creates a tactile and sensual immersion for sweating together.
