30.5.‒23.8.2026 From Forest to Sauna ‒ Sami Repo

The journey of a thousand-kilo spruce to the atelier, where the birch bark that once grew beside it is shaped into a door handle, and the spruce is joined by pine in a log wall. The central theme of the sauna installation is contrast where the monumental becomes miniature, and the millimeter-precision of log carving is brought into focus.

I fell the trees, carve the frame, and shape the details. The result is a smoke sauna influenced by both Karelia and Japan made from Karelian spruce, pine, aspen, alder, birch, as well as oak, ash, and juniper from the Archipelago Sea.

One part of the exhibition is a visual narrative of the creation of this sauna installation inside the museum, along with a unique, single-edition book photographed on film.