Sauna #1

Sauna_01 #1, realized at the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival 2000, consists of a 10 x 14' enclosed room within which is positioned a 4 x 8' tank-a half cylinder resembling a "cargo cult MRI chamber." The Sauna tube is constructed out of a large sheet of bowed polycarbonate which is covered by a rear screen projection material. The rear screen makes it possible to see the projected images in wraparound from above while inside the tube.

The prototype Sauna accommodates one person at a time. Each visitor lays down on a gurney and is fitted with a pair of headphones. Once comfortable, the participant is rolled into the tube and immersed in an audio-visual program lasting approximately 5 minutes. The images range from those of intense acceleration or slowness: extreme motion through darkness, water, snow, REM-like flashes, slow mutations of solar and lunar eclipse, stuttering sweeps of light. The imagery is shaped by the architecture of the tube, transformed into a depthless field by the curved edges of the plastic space.

Designed by Chris Salter and Sponge. Video by Maja Kuzmanović.