Bigert & Bergström has installed a sculptural sauna made of multifaceted stainless steel mirrors with titanium gold colour coating in the historic town of Kiruna in Sweden. Commissioned by Swedish developer Riksbyggen, an egg-shaped sauna was designed to act as a social sculpture in response to devastating transformation of Kiruna's urban landscape, which is famous with its iron ore fields since the 19th Century.

Called Solar Egg, the installation presents a new type of social space where local people and visitors can meet, talk and discuss local-climatic changes of the town. In the arctic climate of Lapland the sauna occupies a key position, as a room for warmth and reflection. 

"This sculptural symbol prompts thoughts of rebirth and an incubator that nurtures conversation and exchanges of ideas," said Bigert & Bergström.  

"The project is a continuation of the artists strategy to incorporate the climate into the experience of the artwork which was initiated with the Climate Chambers in 1994," the studio added.

The oval-shaped installation is made out of stainless golden mirror sheeting, its multifaceted form breaking up the surroundings that it reflects into a multiplicity of different mirror images. 

The artists combine landscape, mine, town, sky, sun and snow into a fragmented image that can evoke associations with the complexity spanned by today’s discussion about climate and sustainable community development. 

The egg's interior is entirely made of wood, with the wall panels and floor decking made out of pine and the bench of aspen. In the centre of the egg stand the wood-heated, heart-shaped sauna stove made out of iron and stone. The temperature inside the egg varies between 75° and 85° Celsius.

A golden shell is built from a total of 69 separate stainless golden mirror sheetings and it reflects urbanistic sceneries of the Swedish town of Luossabacken in Kiruna from a distance.

"Kiruna is currently undergoing a radical transformation, which involves a gigantic move for the whole town. This is so that the mining company LKAB can extract more of the iron seam that cuts diagonally downwards beneath the town," said the artists.

"The iron ore is and has been – ever since it first began to be extracted at the end of the 19th century – an important source of income for Sweden, and absolutely vital for the town of Kiruna. No mine, no town. But the breaking up and devastating transformation of the landscape, the environment and the architecture caused by the move are also sparking a lot of debate."

Bigert & Bergström is an artist duo living and working in Stockholm, Sweden. They created various installations ranging from large-scale installations to public works, sculptures and film projects. 

The core of their work focuses on the junction between humanity, nature and technology. With energetic curiosity their art investigate scientific and social topics discussed in contemporary society.

All images © Jean-Baptiste Béranger

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