Bathing & Beyond: Bathing, Art and Ecology in the Age of Water

This December, Bathing & Beyond premieres in Norway with an immersive event at Havet, Trondheim, merging Baltic and Nordic bathing traditions with contemporary art and ecological action. The event gathers artists, researchers, and bath masters from the Nordic and Baltic regions to explore the connection between water, well-being, and environmental consciousness.

Through the lens of the Hydrocene—a concept that places water at the center of artistic, environmental, and social inquiry—the project examines water’s role as a catalyst for healing, relational arts, and interconnectivity. Participants are invited to rethink their interactions with this life-giving element beyond anthropocentric and extractive models. Holistic sauna practices, water-based performances, and workshops provide embodied experiences encouraging an acknowledgement of water as an active agent that holds memory and shapes our bodies and environments.

Rooted in care and relationality, the program incorporates hydrofeminist practices to explore the interconnectedness of aquatic life in the Trondheim fjord through collaboration with NTNU researchers. It fosters meaningful conversations about water protection, environmental health, and ecosystem restoration. By blending sauna ritual, performance, and hands-on engagement, participants will gain insight into oceanic knowledge systems and develop practices for sustainable interaction with the marine world, emphasizing the interconnectedness of society and ocean as part of one fragile ecosystem.

Bathing & Beyond challenges traditional boundaries between art, wellness, and environmental awareness, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue on the therapeutic aspects of bathing and its role in sustainability. The event deepens our understanding of bathing’s capacity to bridge personal and planetary concerns.

Participants will navigate water’s various states—ice, vapor, liquid, jelly cell—reframing it as a sentient entity that shapes our collective narratives. Through the interplay of heat and cold, the project highlights the thermal qualities of water as a medium for healing, restoration and sensory activation. The event will reflect on the unique ecologies of the Norwegian Sea and honor water’s agency in these dialogues, transforming perceptions of bathing practices into inquiries that explore its potential for healing and ecological restoration.

By merging wellness, art, and environmental action, Bathing & Beyond offers a profound inquiry of the hydrosphere’s impact on artistic and curatorial methods, challenging us to reconsider our responsibilities and relationships with the aqueous world we inhabit.

PROGRAM 05.12.:

11.00-12.00 Project Presentation: Bathing & Beyond
12.00-12.30 Steam bathing with Ancestors and Other Wise
13.00-14.00 Human-Ocean ecosystem as part of Biodiversity
14.30-16.30 Holistic Sauna Ritual
16.30-17.30 Winter Bathing and the Nervous System
18.00-19.00 Whisking Art, Lithuanian Bath Academy
19.30-20.15 IN DEEP WATER – a performative story about the essence of life, deep time and polymetallic nodules
20.15-22.30 BAR DÛ NORD: A Sensory Experience

PROGRAM 06.12.

13.00-14.00 Public Performance – Water Ceremony