Alex­an­der Lembke is well known to many who have tra­vel­led with us in recent years in Spits­ber­gen. Many have heard about his pro­ject of sci­ence, pho­to­gra­phy and prac­ti­cal use of the Fin­nish sau­na.

Now, the pro­ject has rea­ched a (preli­mi­na­ry) cli­max: the exhi­bi­ti­on “Sau­na Syn­ty­neet (Born in Sau­na)” was ope­ned on Fri­day, Octo­ber 13, in Tam­pe­re in Fin­land. The exhi­bi­ti­on was sup­port­ed by orga­niza­ti­ons inclu­ding the Goe­the-Insti­tut, the town of Tam­pe­re and the Fin­nish Sau­na Socie­ty. Their repre­sen­ta­ti­ves were pre­sent at the ope­ning and held spea­ches.

Alexander’s work is about the important role of sau­na in Fin­nish cul­tu­re, histo­ry and socie­ty. The cur­rent exhi­bi­ti­on is about peo­p­le who were actual­ly born in a sau­na. A sau­na is regu­lar­ly hea­ted and clea­ned and it is a place of spi­ri­tua­li­ty, which altog­e­ther makes it a place well sui­ted of events such as giving birth. Peo­p­le were born in sau­na in Fin­land also in recent years, also it is much less com­mon than in the more distant past. The exhi­bi­ti­on shows lar­ge por­traits of peo­p­le who were born in sau­na. In poe­tic films, they tell their sto­ries about their indi­vi­du­al rela­ti­onship to the sau­na and their sau­na ritu­als. The youn­gest per­son por­trai­ted in the exhi­bi­ti­on is 5 years old now, the oldest one is 102! Some of the­se peo­p­le, who were born in sau­na, were pre­sent during the ope­ning.

If you hap­pen to come to Tam­pe­re until Novem­ber 24, 2017, then you have got the oppor­tu­ni­ty to visit the exhi­bi­ti­on “Sau­na­s­sa Syn­ty­neet (Born in Sau­na)”.