History of WARMTH
We were trendsetters back in 2016 when Bethany built the UK’s original wood-fired horse box sauna. Since then there has been an huge expansion in sauna culture around the UK. WARMTH has been to yards, streets, fields, live art festivals, music venues and artist residencies all over the UK, and now we’re permanently based in Sheffield as WARMTH Community Sauna.
In 2011 Bethany experimented with a tent-sauna as part of an architecture research project at Department 21, whilst at the RCA:
“I had been intrigued by sauna culture since working on an organic farm in Western Finland, and also spending time overhearing conversations in saunas at a permaculture festival called Sunrise Off Grid. I’d become fascinated by both the sensory and social conditions in the sauna + how it had a warming + anti-hierarchical effect on the groups + individuals who came and went from the space.
Trained in architecture and now working in performance design, I have always been drawn to spatial environments that have the ability to shape the social culture and tone of interaction that takes place within them. The sauna context soon became a central part of my practice + has profoundly influenced my politics + ethos as a designer.
I love that something as simple as a small timber box heated to 80+ c and hosted well, can be such a quietly radical act. The sauna can be a catalyst for friendship, encounter + discussion as well as a place of quiet reflection + reconnection with the senses.”
Live Art + Performance Archive
WARMTH has been designed to be a site for experimental performance as well as regular sauna sessions. The sensory + social conditions of the sauna site are a rich ground for new work, e.g. for sound artists, musicians, storytelling, live art and installation.
As part of our future plans for WARMTH in Sheffield, we will be creating further opportunities for artists to collaborate with the sauna. Each collaboration, intervention or performance will be asked to leave a trace behind in our sauna yard; whether a scent, an item, image or instructions for future sauna interventions.
Since 2011 we have worked with artists + performers to animate the sauna + surrounding spaces.
WARMTH has hosted writing rituals, a day with a Buddhist monk, a butoh dance class, an accordion lesson, movement workshops, experimented with recording + playing sound, devised comedy sketches, written sauna songs + designed rituals around the sauna-bathing event.
Below is an archive of performance interventions we have hosted at WARMTH:
Sauna audiences enjoying a slice of orange after being taken around Nick Cassenbaum’s storytelling tour of the New Docklands Steam Baths in Canning Town. Compass Festival 2016.
Nick Cassenbaum
Writer + performer Nick Cassenbaum took our sauna audiences on a tour of the New Docklands Steam Baths in East London. We entered in dressing gowns, with slices of orange + were introduced to the local characters + daily bath-house life in Canning Town.
Presented at Compass Festival 2016
Extracts from Nick Cassenbaum’s show, Bubble Schmeiss. Extracts from the show formed part of Nick’s sauna storytelling performance at Compass 2016.
Top Joe
Dressed as a sauna heating engineer + leading us through a guided reflection on our individuality. We quickly learned whilst developing Top Joe’s piece that the maximum time for sauna performances at full heat is 7 minutes!
Presented at Compass Festival 2016
Video: Top Joe performing At WARMTH sauna for Compass Festival. In the Art Hostel, Leeds. 12 November 2016
Viccy Adams
Viccy designed a ritual around the stacking + burning of sauna firewood. We were invited to write sauna memories on logs, which were then stacked, for others to use later. Each time a log was burnt, we had an insight into another sauna context or experience.
Compass Residency, 2016
Image: sauna memories written on the logs + stacked for use later. Viccy Adams, Compass residency 2016.
I explored scent as part of Compass Festival 2018. It was fascinating to hear different people’s associations with each scent. Burning Mastixa resin outside the sauna drew a nostalgic audience from Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Morocco, whilst the Russian oak-leaf Venik whisks immediately transported people back to Latvia + Russia.
Image: copal and mastixa burnt outside the sauna adds another layer of sensory immersion.
gen doy
gen taught us all a sauna song, exploring the communal act of singing together in the sauna. Wearing a paper dress + handing out paper lyrics, drawing our attention to the heat + humidity in the space.
Compass Festival 2016
Image: traces left from gen doy’s performance in the sauna. Small pieces of tissue paper dissolving + smudging in the heat + humidity of the sauna.
![Gen Doy entering the sauna to rehearse the sauna song with a test audience. Outside we have a gnome representing the ‘saunatonttu’ + Nick’s basen [raffia brush from the Bubble Schmeisis performance].](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6760423dba3c85723cf0ba69/1734361670932-JEXWRKB07A3NA8K8273W/gendoy.jpeg)
Image: gen doy entering the sauna to rehearse the sauna song with a test audience. Outside we have a gnome representing the ‘saunatonttu’ + Nick’s basen [raffia brush from the Bubble Schmeisis performance].
Petteri Tikkanen
We had live sketching sessions + an exhibition of illustrations in the sauna. Artist residency as part of the Finnish Village at Lakes International Comic Arts Festival, 2017 in partnership with the Finnish Institute.
Playing field recordings Nick made in the New Docklands Steam Baths through the walls of the horse box into WARMTH, using a vibration speaker. We blacked out the window to remove the immediate yard context, to transport us to the basement setting of the steam baths, overhearing conversation + laughter.
Tim Shaw
Sound artist Tim Shaw experimented with contact microphones, capturing the sound of the fire being lit + amplifying the creaking + clicking of stove and rocks as it heated up. We learnt about the temperature limits of sound equipment in the sauna; it would be great to keep experimenting with more analogue techniques around sound in the sauna.
Compass Residency, 2016.
Image: drips + steam, contact microphones + speakers. Setting up equipment for Tim Shaw’s experiments around capturing the sound in the sauna. Compass residency 2016.
Press + listings for WARMTH
The F Word Stage Blog on WARMTH at Compass Festival 2018
https://thefword.org.uk/2018/10/the-f-word-stage-blog-october-2018/
The Culture Vulture, podcast on WARMTH at Compass Festival 2108
https://theculturevulture.co.uk/cultures/compass-festival-warmth/
Leeds City Magazine on WARMTH at Compass Festival 2018
http://leedscitymagazine.co.uk/compass-festival-returns-to-leeds/
Artlyst on WARMTH at Compass Festival 2018
https://www.artlyst.com/previews/compass-2018-live-art-interactive-encounters-across-leeds/
TLM Magazine on WARMTH at Brighton Fringe [Brighton Fringe residency organised by Katie Bracher]
https://www.tlm-magazine.co.uk/out-and-about/p321969-warmth:brighton.html
Leeds Inspired on WARMTH at Arctic Bazaar, 2017
https://www.leedsinspired.co.uk/events/arctic-bazaar-0
Creative Tourist on WARMTH at the Arctic Bazaar, 2017
https://www.creativetourist.com/event/arctic-bazaar/
Art Hostel blog on WARMTH at Compass Festival 2016
https://arthostel.org.uk/category/past-projects/
Leeds Inspired on WARMTH at Compass Festival 2016
https://www.leedsinspired.co.uk/events/warmth-mobile-sauna-bethany-wells
WARMTH mobile sauna at the Antiuniversity, June 2017
http://www.antiuniversity.org/Other-Acts-of-Public-WARMTH
Thanks + Credits
Since 2011 WARMTH has been evolving collaboration with many sites, artists + supporters. Starting with experiments at the RCA with Department 21, and then in 2016 with funding + support from Arts Council England + Compass Live Art to develop the sauna as a site for performance + installation. Thank you to everyone who has supported us + collaborated with us so far:
Eden Project North
For commissioning WARMTH to run a pop-up in Morecambe in November 2019, in collaboration with More Music and Creative West End.
SKINT International Dance + Music Weekend
For inviting WARMTH to their annual festival in Derbyshire in Autumn 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Basin Bathhouse
For inviting WARMTH up to Glasgow as part of their Basin Bathhouse installation in May 2019. Curated by Nikki Kane and Clara Weale, with bathhouse design by Jennifer Argo.
SYLLABUS
For inviting WARMTH to their artist residency at S1 Artspace, Sheffield, April 2019.
The Culture Vulture
For creating a podcast about WARMTH, Compass Festival 2018
Compass Festival, North Star Coffee, Primal Gym + Leeds Dock
For partnering with WARMTH during Compass Festival 2018. Special thanks to Anna Turzynski + Rochyne Delaney McNulty for support in running the sauna at Compass Festival 2018.
North Star Coffee, Leeds
For hosting a screening of Steam of Life, Compass Festival 2018.
Brighton Fringe
For hosting WARMTH during May/June 2018. Thanks to Katie Bracher who initiated + ran this pop-up under the title of WARMTH Brighton. There was a great local response to WARMTH Brighton, and Katie has now established another horse-trailer sauna: Beach Box Brighton, inspired by the design of WARMTH.
Islington Mill, Salford
For hosting WARMTH in July 2018. Special thanks Olivia Glasser who initiated, co-ordinated + ran this event under title of WARMTH: Encore Room Residency.
Arctic Bazaar, at the Art Hostel, Leeds
For inviting us to be a central part of their winter festival. The Arctic Bazaar was a collaboration between &/or Emporium and Imaginaria, in partnership with East Street Arts and Art Hostel. December 2017.
Lakes International Comic Arts Festival
For inviting us to their Finnish Village + festival of Finnish illustration, in partnership with Finnish Institute, October 2017.
Art Hostel, Leeds
For partnering with WARMTH during Compass Festival 2016. Special thanks to Robyn Haddon for support in running the sauna at Compass Festival, October 2016.
Slung Low, Leeds, Stocksbridge Community Leisure Centre, Sheffield, + Islington Mill, Salford
For hosting our WARMTH artist residencies + test sessions in April 2016
Antiuniversity, London
For hosting WARMTH, June 2016
Bones + Pearl Studios, London
For hosting WARMTH, April 2016
CADS, Sheffield
For their support during the build process for WARMTH, Dec/Jan 2015/6
Arts Council England + Compass Live Art
For commissioning + supporting the development of WARMTH in 2015/6.
Special thanks to all the artists + performers who took part in our initial Compass artist residency, April 2016:
Top Joe, performer
Tim Shaw, sound artist
Nick Cassenbaum, performer + writer
Viccy Adams, writer
gen doy, performer + artist
Alice Malseed, performer + writer
Hilda Törmänen + Ross Hvidsten, Helsinki
For hosting WARMTH research trip + tours round Helsinki's public saunas, January 2014
Finnish Sauna Society, Helsinki
For a guided tour around the 6 saunas at the Finnish Sauna Society, January 2014
Hanna Pasanen, CSM
For hosting a discussion around Finnish sauna at the Finnish Church in London, May 2014
Kulttuurisauna, Helsinki
For sauna stove recommendations
Royal College of Art
For hosting WARMTH, at the Work in Progress Show, Februrary 2011
Department 21, RCA 2010-11
Special thanks to all D21 artists who contributed to WARMTH in February 2011:
Anthony Bowles [sauna construction]
Afonso Martin [furniture construction]
Alkesh Parmar [sauna construction]
Aloka [hosting SilentRCA day]
Andrew Willson [facilitator [SilentRCA]
Bianca Elzenbaumer [sauna construction, D21/Brave New Alps]
Deniz Johns [installation + workshop host]
Deshna Metha [photography + illustration]
Grant Mcraig [sauna construction]
Karolina Raczynska [installation]
Rob Bellman [sauna stove construction]
Sophie Demay [D21 co-ordinator, furniture construction]