One Year after, the Sauna Clash and Ostbloc strike Back !
Fall is coming, and after the crazy summer heat, time has come for every-body to focus on getting used cold again… Sad ? Nope, fall is the best excuse to visit the camion Sauna again !
6 Weeks residency at Ostbloc ! Every Thursday just for you dear Ostbloc Boulders ! And Sauna Clash Festival / 2 Days of Mobile Sauna Crazyness
04. Oct. @ Ostbloc Boulderhalle from 18:01 // Berlin
11. Oct. @ Ostbloc Boulderhalle from 18:03 // Berlin
13. Oct. @ FIT Tankstelle SAUNA CLASH FESTIVAL // Berlin
14. Oct. @ FIT Tankstelle SAUNA CLASH FESTIVAL // Berlin
18. Oct. @ Ostbloc Boulderhalle from 18:02// Berlin
25. Oct. @ Ostbloc Boulderhalle from 18:03// Berlin
01. Nov. @ Ostbloc Boulderhalle from 18:06// Berlin
08. Nov. @ Ostbloc Boulderhalle from 18:04// Berlin
10. Nov. @ Finnish Film, Food And Music Festival // Temmen Ringenwalde (more Infos Soon !!!)
11. Nov. @Finnish Film, Food And Music Festival // Temmen Ringenwalde (more Infos Soon !!!)
After the success of last year, it is time again for the hottest event of the year. Enjoy with us exciting sauna events – without shell in abundance !
So What ?
Indulge with us nudism: 2 days, 5 Mobile Saunas, relaxation, food, drink, music, workshops and infusions like never before. Join with a spontaneous lecture on a topic of your choice at 100 degrees. Even the little ones will get their money’s worth at the children’s sauna on Sunday.We keep you up to date, when, how, where, what.
For those who don’t know Ostbloc yet, and the incredible atmosphere of the boulder Gym, directly beside the Spree, under the big Willow Tree (Trauerweide), come and check out the ultimate wellness experiment and chill out with us Thursday evenings from 18:00 till 23:00 (last Aufguss 22:00)
Aufguss every 45mn from 19:00 (19:45-20:30-21:15-22:00)
Come over and Chill !
Entrance FREE for Climbers !!
Aufguss every 45mn from 19:00 (19:45-20:30-21:15-22:00)
Come over and Chill !
Entrance FREE for Climbers !!
Sauna Sauna Sauna – Heiss Heiss Bäby !
Finnish Film, Food And Music Festival // Temmen Ringenwalde (more Infos Soon !!!)
Here we go, after almost one Year, and the last Sauna Tour I Made in Finland and Sweden,
The “Camion Sauna“ was on Tour again !
This time the main subject of this trip will not be to learn a lot about the Sauna Culture (even though I always learn a lot about it).. I mean it will not be an intensive research about sauna like I did when I was in Finland and Sweden last year, but more about exploring the effects of Sauna in (really) different contexts and situations, No sauna evening is the same, and so no sauna guest neither. From Wagenplatz (Place where people regrouped in communities live in trucks and Trailers in an area sometimes rented, sometimes squatted, sometimes owned), Trance Music Festival, non-profit Art Festivals to Climbing places the Spectrum of people and intentions will be wide. Ready for the Analysis ? It took me almost two Month to write it down, but here we go ! Hope you will enjoy !
Facts : 2890km / 27 Days / 13 Sauna Evenings / 614L Diesel / A Lot of People
0// 21.06 / Berlin / km 0 / 0 sauna
Before the Start : getting used to the idea of being alone without intimacy
This time before the starting, I didn’t have so much things to prepare, the truck was set, the motor oil got changed and the little mechanical adjustments also. The main setting up was more like separating the “Sauna things” and the “Private things”. As I will live for almost 4 Weeks in a reduced Space and open this space to a lot of people, it was really important to me to define how far I feel comfortable just letting my private stuff visible in the truck. Sauna guests will see my wood work, my architecture skills, and decoration taste of course, this is part of the “Open Part” and also part of my personality, right. But they will also see my Books, my toothbrush, my underwear, and so on. (or at least the containers where I hid them). So it’s funny to deal with the facts that I travel alone in a loud box of 12m² and lose a lot of intimacy in the meanwhile.
1// 23.06 / Leipzig / km 177 / 1 Sauna
Sauna and hot weather
The first Stop was kind of spontaneous, I got the confirmation 3 Days before leaving Berlin. Some other places I could have make a nice Sauna evening just cancelled, because they couldn’t imagine to go (or who else would go) to the sauna if the outside temperature is over 32°C. Jakob of Ostbloc and all the Ostbloc Guests can tell how warm it was the 31st of Mai, and how great it felt to go to the sauna (and to go out of the Sauna afterwards:) even when the outside temperatures is stupidly high:) Actually going to Sauna when it’s warm outside has a really cooling effect afterwards, you don’t feel slave of the Outside heat anymore, and you feel fresher that after a cold shower, and this for a really long time..at least the whole evening:) To me it feels like the moment when you smoke a cigarette, and actually you enjoy more the deep breath of Air afterwards then the inhalation of smoke..
Wasserturm Wagenplatz
Well, Leipzig ! Finally the weather was not that warm and nice this day, and the Sauna was really good to reheat and to regain the heat lost because everybody was still wearing skirts and short pants, and short sleeves. A Friend organised a little event at the “Wasserturm Wagenplatz”. A nice Place that used to be a Car Junk-yard before where trees and common rooms grew quickly after 2 groups of people decided to buy together to live there without having to move from one place from the other, fed up of being only “Tolerated” from the city Leipzig. Leipzig as many different cities in Germany (Berlin for example) is growing, expending, rebuilding, gentrifying, and using every free peace of land or surface has been sold these last years, the way to deal with public space is controversial, and it is definitely not that easy anymore as 15 years ago to just have some free space in the city centre.
Finally the Sauna was a really cosy evening, we shared food, we shared heat and red wine, simply cosy and nice, a great sauna evening, the truck hidden in the middle of the newborn little forest 🙂
2// 24-25. 06 / München / km 610 / 1 Sauna (+ 1 Pool !)
Long Distances and Resting time
After Leipzig, I went on the highway to join Munich, it took me 8 hours to drive 400km, included breaks, I’m really happy I organised the tour like that : 1 Driving Day, 1 Rest day, 1 Sauna Day, but at least one complete day not driving the truck. I Didin’t make the mistake I made for the previous “Tour de France” and “tour de Scandinavie” last year., when I kept on driving and making Sauna, almost without break time and always really long distances in between. Just for you to Understand why I need to rest, here the “Soundtrack of a Saunatour” to o be listened loud. (Recorded by Matthieu Rousseaux)
Munich: OLGA Wagenplatz
It’s the second time I visit OLGA with the Camion Sauna, first time was in february 2017, the weather was cold back then, but now it’s summer and the People prepared a huge pool to jump in after the Sauna ! As you can see on the pictures, the sauna was open to everybody.
About OLGA, it Means “Ohne Lenkrad Geht auch” (you can make it even without a stearing wheel), I was really sad to hear that they will have to move out there actual Space soon.”The Boschetsrieder Str times” are over, at the point I was there they couldn’t tell exactly where they would go afterwards but the OLGA Crew is really well organised, and really mobile. Some have trucks, others have some BDF Containers, some other Trailers and wagon, and everything they’ve been building for years is just easily foldable and always build with a mobility consciousness, which make it really interesting and sexy. Everyone has a private space and private things they will take care alone, and the common Things and Raw-material is really well organised (Pipes, Metal pieces, Wood, bicycle workshop, water organisation) I really enjoyed watching how something temporary can be so much organised. As they move from places to places every few years, they got a routine in organising things : the main organisation and the base are strong and well organised, and allows plenty of variations and gives plenty of flexibility (damn I practised too much Yoga, I start to talk like my Yoga teachers..)
Coming back..
Beside the Boulderhalle Ostbloc, OLGA was the first place I came back with the Camion Sauna, It felt really nice to see some people again, and to discover new ones, when I called them to tell I would come to visit, they told me “You can park at the same spot than last time”, I felt really good to hear that ! Also really weird to feel it’s the last time I would see OLGA at this place, next time I meet the OLGA people it will be somewhere else. It’s a bit more than just meeting a friend in an other bar, you go to see a whole village, a whole organised social and cultural group on an other part of the map ! This feels kind of paradoxal and nice, “nothing is for ever” (damn, again a yoga quote.. I promise next time I quote Motorhead)
3// 27.06-02.07 / Zernez / Burning Mountain Festival / km 940 / 1 Sauna (+ 1 Cold River / Massage Crew / Vegan Food)
The Road : Challenge for the Camion, Motor nerdiness…
Of course I’m on a road trip, so I need to tell you about the road. From Munich the journey continues through Bavaria through Garmisch-Partenkirchen, from where the Road winds up along the slope of the ” Zugspitze Pass”, kind of challenging for the 1974 OM-352 Engine. I checked every levels (Gear Oil, Moor Oil, Axis Oil, Water) and I started to drive up. Maximum Speed was 30 kmH, I felt really glad and grateful for my mechanic who changed the Thermostat of my water pump so it already opens at 70°C (instead of 80°C) and who changed the Cooler net for a more efficient one. I felt kind of afraid of overheating it (last time I Crossed the Pyreneans, the road was not that extreme and it was wintertime, so the weather cooled the engine better), and all the way up I kept my eyes on the temperature needle (well 90% of the time, the other 10% was to focus at the narrow road, to look at the wonderful mountains, to check out the mirror and the Huge line of cars waiting behind me and hating me because of the low speed and the smell of the exhaust..). Finally everything went good and I could go through the mountains to arrive in ZERNEZ !!! It took me 8 hours to drive 250km… (A little break at the Resia Lake in Italy to eat something, get some Sun and have a walk, YEAH I can say that the Camion went to Italy 🙂
Zernez – Burning Mountain Festival & Bali Wellness Crew
Finally I Got there ! The Main reason of my really long Trip is finally right outside ! Surrounded by amazing Mountains , right beside a really cold river flowing down the Glacier, the festival has the most beautiful location I’ve ever been ! When my friend Tal from Berlin asked me if I would be interested in being part of the “Bali Wellness Crew” for the Burning Mountain Festival (Massage, Vegan Food, Yogi Tea, Sauna) I didn’t took me so long to say Yes ! When I arrived at night, Tal and Mattias already had set up the tents for the massage and for selling vegan crepes, coffee and yogi tea, I started to set up my Truck and the little “Garden” the next day, the Festival organisators and “Viktor” from the Psychclean crew provided me some pallets to make it a bit more cosy
Bali Wellness Crew knows how to provide pleasure :=)
Preparing the chill out area outside, Nudity VS Shame VS feeling Welcome
The main interesting about setting the Sauna in a new place is to check out the ambiance, the spot and the people around. I realised it after some festivals, and actually with the Gardelegen Festival Crew in June 2018. We had a really good and constructive phone call with Paula and Torsten, we discussed a lot about how to make a chillout Inviting from the outside and also protective and chilling from the inside. As we have to deal with nudity, and wellness entering the Sauna Area shouldn’t make the guests feel uncomfortable or being stalked at, but also it should not be seen as a Private society event from the people around theBy the Way, the sauna had a birthday on this tour 🙂 320000km 🙂 Yeah !y should feel welcome also to try it spontaneously. According to that, its really important to think the place in term of (temporary) architecture. May some new ideas will come, process is still on 🙂
Protection :
The truck already offers a big protection from one side, so I use it as a wall to protect from the to main party (and from the crazy cold wind)
At Gardelegen festival some bamboos fences
At Burning mountain some pallets as a little wall for the front (“Gartenzaun” style) and the neighbours tents to close the sides
Invitation :
the Colour of the Truck, the rooftop terrace the coloured lights bulbs
Keep the gap to enter gig enough to feel welcome, and small enough to feel Intimate inside
Using some “restriction objects that feel still inviting” (like the Sauna welcome sign, and some long chairs, you can use to clock and to welcome at the same time)
A big carpet coming from outside world to the wellness world
The Camion Sauna in a Festival : the light-tower for creative minds
I Felt really Lucky to be there and I felt a real privilege of being between many different worlds ! The visitors of the festival are really different and many different reasons pushed them to come to the Festival (Gathering, meeting people, partying hard, checking out their limits, .. and some also for the Music of course 🙂 but the reasons that came to the Sauna was because it was kind of an Offbeat : the festival was really colourful, stimulating any of the senses, so much input (Music, people, Lightshow, Fluorescent light, and also the smell of the Mountain) and Sauna helped a lot my guests to focus on what they’ve just been living, have a kind of introspection and to share it with some other guests in a peaceful, talkative atmosphere. Many really good discussions occurred, mostly about body work and sharing experiences.
The Finnish Crew at the Burning Mountain Festival
Before the Sauna / After the Sauna
Ice Girl and Iceman :
One of the most impressive thing I’ve discovered was “Wim Hof” and one of his Messenger : Sary from Portugal : This time the water of the Cooling Pool was really Cold ! As we pumped the clear 13° Cold water from the river it was really challenging for the people to enter into it (for me too :). We kept on diving in an out, really quickly just to provide our funny “Hot/Cold” kick, when suddenly we saw Sary, just staying into the cold water for more that 15mn without shaking, without showing any sign of getting cold ! We all kept on admiring the performance, and she kept on telling us it’s possible for everyone to do it. After a lot of admiration of her skills doing it and also admired her skills to convince us to get in the cold bath and try to focus on a deep breathing. Based on a meditation technique, it is possible to EVERYONE to minimise the loss of temperature of the body and to keep the body temperature constant, even in a 13° Water and also in Ice and snow. So we tried ! One after the other we tried to stay in this cold pool, and it felt incredible, first the cold shock, and after 30 seconds, of not moving the water close to the skin creates a kind of “Temperature Filter”, between hot and Cold. So the first impression is to get a bit warmer (may you know this effect), but now comes the important moment : Her Master was “Wim Hof” (check the Documentary about him) and he teaches a respiration technique, inspiring really fully deep, and expiring almost everything but not everything. It’s important to keep some air in the lungs to keep a little flame inside. After trying more and more, we finally achieved to stay longer in the water (5mn without moving), which was already way longer that before, and it felt really good !
After Some lovely days into this amazing landscape and festival, we packed our stuff again, the temporarily build Society dismounted all her rigs, and the endless goodbyes, finally found an end. We kept on the festival area even after the festival.. It felt funny for a nomadic project to have that impression to be for once the “Thing that stays when everything disappears”, normally its the opposite 🙂
4// 03.07 / Rüdlingen am Rhein / We are Saunah / km 1240 / 2 Sauna (+ 1 Cold River “Rhein”/ a Lot of Finnish People)
The Trip, The Road.. Again
When we hit the Road Again, Matthieu, my truck and I and crossed the beautiful mountain of the “fluela pass” between Zernes and Davos, we didn’t expect such a huge Mountain. When we started to go on it, I felt amazed from the beautiful landscape, the light and the cold air and burning sun combination, but also I wasn’t so peaceful with the fact that my beautiful Oldtimer truck would have to face such a big hill. So after 2 km, we realised that the Truck wouldn’t be faster that 20kmh Up-hill, and every since and then we could see a lot of cars parking left and right from the road with opened bonnet, overcooked engine, with the desperate faces of their owners, waiting for the car towing to help them out.. I wished it wouldn’t happen to me, and lucky us, the brave camion sauna made it !!! And I promised that I would not do it again.. By the way it’s the first time I’ve been overtook by a bicycle because I’m too slow 🙂
Arriving at Rüdlingen // Spontaneous Sauna
This event happened through a social network connection, online I met Henri from the “We are Sau Nah” project, and he asked me if I would like to come to visit him, and to make a little “Mobile Sauna” event close to the Rhein River of course I accepted ! The spot was really nice and I realised there would be a lot of Finnish people there too ! Henri is Half-Finnish, that’s why 🙂 So it felt really nice to have a real Finnish atmosphere in my sauna again, almost one year after the “Sauna Ajot” in Teuva, the last time I had sooo many Finnish people in my Sauna ! A lot of water and a lot of heat (and a lot of beer 🙂
Something really rare impressed me about this area. I put a “Sauna” sign close to this little country road and a lot of people just came by accident, just seeing the sign and deciding to stop because they were interested “Oh ! And will you bee there Next Week ? No ? So I try now !” I felt really happy to see that people react to this sign so easily ! It was always my dream to park somewhere in a town, village, on the market place to offer a sauna to People on a spontaneous way, but I never tried because I taught it would not work.. What happened on that evening gave me the energy to push my experiment a bit further and the try this out 🙂
5// 05-07.07 / Zürich / Living Room Festival – Stadionbrache / km 1410 / 1 Sauna (+ 1 Art Festival / City gardening project)
The Stadion Brache.
Similar to a Berlin Project “Prinzessinen garten”, the Stadion brache project is a neighbourhood initiative started 2011 and uses the Space leftower from an Old Football Stadion. Half of the space turned green, with a little boulder/climbing wall, flowers, gardening, a mini skatepark a little kitchen, well a really cosy space, non commercial and opened to everybody, and the other half is an empty asphalted space which is ready to host events, exhibitions or festivals. One of the festivals was the Living Room Festival who took over the space for some days
Living Room Festival
When I started to book my Tour, I looked for places to make saunas and my Friend Hanna told me to ask in the Stadion Brache. I saw that on my the period I would be around Zürich this “Living Room Festival” would take place, what is better that having a Sauna in a living room ?? so I went there 🙂
The Festival is a really eclectic festival, organised around a Main Tent where everybody can eat, share food and discuss on a donation based, and from this main tent some tentacular events are happening all around it, outside. Crazy construction, circus, architectural research, theatre, Dance, Concerts, and food sharing.. and a Sauna! The good thing about this festival is the fact that every event has a proper space and a proper showtime, the performances were placed so that the audience can goe from one spot to the other, moving their physical position to get in an other universe, no overlapping performances, or no performances one after the other on the same stage ! So it was completely up to the audience to go either to the next input or to give a moment of reflection on what just happened, I like when festivals give space for talks and reflection…
About the space …
At the beginning I was afraid of so much opened space, the truck was parked on a really big parking space, it felt kind of vulnerable, it didn’t fit exactly to my “feeling well” criterias (opened a lot to the outside, large space), but actually it felt surprisingly good, it fitted completely to the concept of moving from one topic to the next one, and the space between the different projects was a really good transition!
6// 11.07 / Strasbourg / La balastière / km 1770 / 1 Sauna (+ 1 Lake)
Back to the Roots !
The place where I come from and where I started to build the Sauna before bringing it to Berlin ! A nice and casual evening happened, on the parking lot directly beside the artificial lake of la Balastière ! Some friends came over and even some curious people passing by who wanted to try the Sauna 🙂
7// 12-13.07 / Strasbourg / Roc En Stock / km 1780 / 1 Sauna (+1 Climbing Boulder hall +1 Barbecue)
Roc en Stock…
…was the first place where I’ve ever been climbing, something like 15 Years ago, so it also felt really nice reconnecting with the space and its people ! The space was exactly made for the Sauna, I could directly drive there dock at the terrace ! Ghislain and Roc en Stock hosted me for two days after I asked them, it was nice how to see the reaction of Ghislain who accepted the Summer Sauna as a really big Joke he waned to share with everybody. He wanted to make the people aware of the Sauna so he went to talk to any people hanging at the climbing wall to tell them “ Hey Come down ! Let’s go to the Sauna ! It’s only Today ! Come”, Fantastic host, it felt like holiday to me ! Waking up, climbing, heating up the Sauna, and barbecue in the evening with a lot of happy people ! It was my first experience with a French climbing society, really nice atmosphere, really similar to the nice atmosphere I’ve been experimenting at Ostbloc in Berlin ! Thank you for the Evening !
So here we are, after Strasbourg, back to Berlin, the hot summer keeps me on standbye for some month, but I’m Back in September !
By the Way, the sauna had a birthday on this tour 🙂 320000km 🙂 Yeah !
After some delightful moments at Ostbloc Boulderhalle (Berlin), at the Uckeralm Frühlingsfestspiele and in AMAAAAZING Gardelegen festival , it’s time to prepare the next trip to Switzerland ! On my Way I will make some Sauna Evenings in Leipzig, München, Zernes, Winterthur, Zürich, and Strasbourg ! Check the Dates and Heat your cheecks !
The Tour will look like this :
23. Juni : @ „Wasserturm Wagenplatz“ (Wasserturm Str) – Leipzig
25. Juni : @ OLGA – München (DE)
27. Juni – 02.Juli : @ Burning Mountain Festival – Zernes (CH)
04. Juli : @ Rhein – Rüdlingen (Bein Winterthur) (CH)
05. – 07. Juli : @ Living Room Festival – Zürich (CH)
10. Juli : @ La Ballastière – Strasbourg (FR)
11, 12, 13. Juli : @ Roc en Stock Climbing hall – Strasbourg (FR)
15. – 18. Juli : Darmstadt / Weimar / Jena HELP HELP Maybe ?
I Hope to se you on the Road, Bring some Wood to Heat the Sauna ! More Informations to the Events below !
23. Juni @ Wasserturm Wagenplatz – Leipzig
„Der Platz ist im Südwesten die Straße heißt Wasserturmweg das ist wohl ne kleine Gasse und am Ende ist ein großes Tor wo man rein muss, sagt die Luna :)“
04. Juli : @ Rhein – Rüdlingen (Bein Winterthur) (CH)
I just got invited from Henri, the proud Owner of the “ We are Sau Nah“ Sauna in a camping Trailer ! Directly at the Rhin, Dipping the Toes in the cold water right after the Sauna ! Yep !
05. – 07. Juli : @ Living Room Festival – Zürich (CH)
This Festival is all about the concept of the Sauna Truck, taking over an abandoned space (in that case a Really Urban Space) to make a festival There, listening to Music, sharing food and enjoy the Sauna for a few days, and then breaking up the dream again, Intense, beautiful and for a short period, my Nomadic heart beats like it ! What is better than having a Sauna in your Living Room ?
10. Juli : ApéroSauna @ La Ballastière – Strasbourg (FR) (à partir de 19:00)
Apérosauna !
Viendez les amis !
11, 12, 13. Juli : @ Roc en Stock Climbing hall – Strasbourg (FR)
For 3 Evenings in a Row I will be in the first Climbing gym i’ve ever visited ( I passed my Sport degree for my „Baccalauréat“ there 15 years ago, so Back to the climbing roots 🙂
After a long and great winter sleep, le Camion Sauna goes on Tour again, in Berlin and around ! Some nice festivals are popping up for Spring and the Summer, I would be glad to see you there !
Here’s the Schedule for spring and Summer 2018 :
+ 20-22. April :Unframed Festival – Berlin – Bethanien (Kreuzberg) >> Co-production with Dagmar Fela !
This time „Le camion Sauna“ got transformed into an amazing machine exploring the possibilities of using a Sauna as a Medium for better substantial communications. More here)
+ 29.April – 1. Mai 2018 : Uckeralm Festival – am Uckersee (20km From Berlin)
The Second Time in the Uckeralm to share the steam in an Amazing charming old Farm yard ! The best way to escape Berlin from 1st of Mai, the revolutionary 1st of mai has been replaced by barbecues and bars anyway..
Every Thursday in Mai ! Again the beautifull Ostbloc invited me for a nice chill out Time ! Thursday will be Late Thursday, with Djs and chill out area around a fire place ! hmm love it !
+ 01-04. June : Gardelegen Festival – Gardelegen (170km From Berlin) More infos Soon !
As Zernes is really far from Berlin I’m still looking for places to make some Sauna Events to make my trip cosy, and meeting a lot of people around on the way to there and on the way back ! Any city in Switzerland, Germany and Austria would be nice !
22. – 26. June : HELP NEEDED (more or less around Leipzig – Jena – Bayreuth – Nurnberg – München – Innsbruck )
02. – 10. July : HELP NEEDED ! ( I would like to stay a bit in Switzerland before heading back to Berlin
If you are interested just contact me ! It would be really great !
Unframed Festival.
About The Festival :
Economy Of Resistance – Global Society In Transformation
Transformation has a long and varied history rooted in political movements and economic happenings, but it means different things to different people. Artists, activists, economists, and journalists all have a different take on the subject. We know of so many transformations and we may not even know how societies transform, but that’s okay.
Unframed festival came into existence to provide a platform for debate and foster genuine exchange. Maybe you’ll leave with more questions than answers and maybe not. It’s all up to you!
Le Camion Sauna at Unframed :
Share the Heat ! The Sauna Truck „Le camion Sauna“ comes to you, brings you the luxury of feeling well and to share a moment with people in the simplest way : no clock, no mobile phone, no need for efficiency, just Heat, Cold water and Steam.
Beside the relaxing aspect of Sauna, for the Unframed Festival we will try to explore the possibilities of using a Sauna as a Medium for better substantial communications.
Traditionally, Sauna has often been used in Finland as a way to take important political decisions. In a speech in Tokyo, in Mai 2010 Pertti Torstila (Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland – Finland) explained “Decisions and negotiations take less time in the high heat. Sauna cools down overexcitement and melts away political differences.”
In theory, an intensive, passionate and critical discussion can be leaded by everyone, and everyone can take part of the discussion. Practically, some patterns, hierarchy and power mechanisms play a big part in this process, and Quick witted (Schlagfertig) persons with strong body language are self-designed as taking over a leading position in debates.
The experiment will be easy. We will select a pool of controversial discussion topics we want to discuss in the Sauna, and we will offer the possibility to have a passionate debate without overcooking and even allow the „Leadership mechanism“ to take place : The Sauna is a reduced and soft lighted room, where people can seat and share the same physical environment, they only belonging they bring into the sauna is a towel, a naked body and a creative mind. After some Minutes the discussion has to stop to cool down, this offers to everybody the luxury of thinking about the topic silently, to find some new ideas to raise the debates, to process the ideas other people had, and even maybe to change own mind considering the reality and the talk beside. After the „cooling down break“, people meet in the sauna again and resume the discussion.
We are not here to convince, we are here to give our mind the possibility to change, without loosing the ideals we are convinced by, it’s not about winning and loosing, it’s about changing.
Are you ready for this ?!
Friday 20th : from 17:00 – Open End
Saturday 21th : 14:00 -19:00 Sauna Talks // 19:00 – Open End Sauna
Sunday 22th : 14:00 -19:00 Sauna Talks // 19:00 – Open End Sauna
Last Tuesday I finally passed the „TÜV“, the German technical evaluation that proves that your truck is in a good shape to drive. German oldtimers needs to do it Yearly so the Truck is fine, and even the bumps and scratches from the Finland crash went OK and I could keep the Oldtimer certificate, Yeah !
Diese Diashow benötigt JavaScript.
So after some crazy good Weeks in October and November (23 Sauna nights !) at Ostbloc Climbing hall, Temmen Ringenwalde, an at the marvellous Sauna Clash Festival, the Truck will now take a break till next year !
Because people want so read numbers and precise Informations :
The first Sauna day was 3rd of December 2016 for the 1st birthday of Luca, since that day the Truck travelled more than 12000 km, went to France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Finland, and Sweden, for in Total 71 Sauna Evenings !
A lot of crazy situations happened, a lot of happy and relaxed faces went through the Sauna glass door of the Camion Sauna, I didn’t count how many, but .. a lot ! Lutz from Ostbloc told me „Jérôme, you build a machine to make people happy!“, it was one of the nicest quote about the Camion Sauna Project !
Anyway, thank you everybody who invited me to any events, who came and visit me and my Camion Sauna so far, thank you for the many good conversation !
Next Year 2018 is kind of unclear, but i got my little „to do list“, i would love to drive to Greece, Finland and Italy ! Let’s see what’s gonna happpen !
Nach dem Normalen Boulder-Eintritt kommt man kostenlos in die Sauna
Was mitbringen ?
Zwei Handtücher (für die Spontante Saunagänger : Handtuchmiete : 2E / Bademantelmiete 4E)
Badelatschen
Obst zu teilen (Orangen, Kiwi, Ananas, Birne etc)
Wo genau ?
Fahrrad: Die Halle ist bequem mit dem Fahrrad in 5 Minuten vom Ostkreuz oder von Friedrichshain aus erreichbar. Dafür immer dem Uferweg an der Rummelsburger Bucht folgen. Wenn der Weg aufhört, steht man direkt vor der Halle.
BVG: Direkt vor dem Hallengelände befindet sich die Haltestelle „Gustav-Holzmann-Straße“ der Tram 21. Diese Linie fährt quer durch Friedrichshain und hält zum Beispiel am S-Bahnhof Rummelsburg oder am S-Bahnhof Ostkreuz (Boxhagener/Neue Bahnhofstraße).
Auto: Vom Zentrum (Kreuzberg,Friedrichshain) folgt man der Hauptstraße vom Ostkreuz aus 1,7km bis zur Nummer 13 auf der rechten Seite. Von Schöneweide und Karlshorst kommend, fährt man auf der Köpenicker Chaussee, bis diese zur Hauptstraße wird. Auf dem Hallengelände sind reichlich kostenlose Parkplätze vorhanden.
The Sauna Clash – Mobile Sauna Festival
Celebrate the Heat ! 14th – 15th of OCTOBER
Sauna Clash
What ?
First Mobile Sauna Meeting in Berlin ! Who ? Experiment the nomadic way of Sauna Heat in different constructions and atmospheres !
Finland/ Sweden tour 2017 : Start 23. July / End 20. August
When I passed my Baccalauréat, I learned the Typical French theater classical dramaturgical schema would look like : 1/Situation . 2/Conflict or Problem happens 3./Different actions to solve the problems 4/Solution or Deus Ex Machina (Complete surprising solution)..
Actually the first week of my Scandinavian trip didn’t look exactly the same the Problem came at 1/ then 3/Action, 1/Situation again 2/Problem and then 4/… Just read 🙂
After weeks and weeks and years and years of preparation, and a first „Winter Tour in France“, the Camion Sauna (and me) was finally ready to take off to motherland Finland and to the mother village „Teuva“ where the biggest Mobile Sauna Meeting in Finland (or maybe worldwide) takes place. My quest for the Sauna Roots, and tradition can begin !
My diary of a Scandinavian trip or Manifesto for questioning the classical theater Rules of Narration
Sauna Tour Finland-Sweden 2017
PART ONE : FINLAND
Sunday 23th of July / Berlin – Travermünde to the Ferry : 380 km / 0 Saunas
The last week before taking off was (like usual for me) a crazy intense time with millions of things to fix before leaving, and finally i made it perfectly on schedule, some small details I wanted to fix were not really got fixed yet, but only small details, nothing more I thought..
The first km heading to the Highway from the scrappy Hohenschönhausen, where i got my Workshop, brought me in a really nice euphoria, the one you know, for one Month your are on an other level and state of mind „opening to other people, to other culture, everything is open, ready for surprises“, like a radical changing of regular life where i feel stuck in sometimes. I said Surprise ? SURPRISE ! My truck offered me the first surprise I wasn’t even on the Highway, that a emergency light for the Alternator started to blink.. The alternator just DIED, 20km after the beginning of my trip, huh.. The euphoria was not completely gone but the sunshine which leaded me just hadn’t exactly the same effect on my skin..
So I continued driving as much i could by daylight, to save the batteries as much I could, and finally almost arrived to the ferry and stopped to get some fuel, and the truck didn’t want to start anymore, Fuck .. By Chance, Jens and me managed to get a system to use the Solar batteries to start the truck in case of Problems,(which is not really easy to Manage, on Mercedes LP since they have 12V Batteries, coupling to 24V just for the Starter) and this helped me a lot.. already twice, once in France, and once now ! (Danke Jens alter schwede)
So I Finally made it to the „Skandinavienkai“, where the ferries starts from Germany directly to Helsinki , I entered the Finmaid Boat at 1:20, the boat started to go at 3:00 in the morning. I felt completely awake, I Smoked some cigarettes and drink some beer and i finally headed to my cabin to have a sleep, in a room without windows, with 3 Other guys, already asleep. Good night…
Monday 24th of July / Travermünde – Helsinki : 36 Hours boat / 1 Sauna (Ferry Sauna)
It feels really weird waking up in a cabin without a window, as if you would sleep in an hermetic fridge. First statement.
What to do on a boat when you don’t have internet, you don’t want to play with one of the many Casino Machines, or consume bad smelling vanilla Perfume for only 19,99 E ? well you can read newspaper, OR you can go the Sauna ! In the Finnmaid Boats the Helsinki you can go the the sauna for free ! So yeaah, first contact to the Finnish Sauna culture, a Sauna on a ferry, with y window looking outside at the sea ! Russian Bikers, Finnish Truckers, Spanish people moving to Helsinki for work, and Germans moving to Finland for Vacation, one of them was Jan..
Tuesday 25th of July / Helsinki – Vaanta – Helsinki – 55km / 0 Sauna
Jan, is from Jena, and he’s on a motorcycle trip for 2Weeks in Finland. He told me if i need some help to fix the Alternator, he would stay with me, so we drove around from Mechanics to mechanics trying to find some Help for spare parts, the first places we went couldn’t really help us „We need a serial Number and then we can help you“.. Well finally we found those guys from ADITA, when we arrived with the truck, we (almost) didn’t for anything, they came out the shop with some Oldschool electric measuring machine on wheels which looked like an artificial respiration machine you might know from the hospital, they put cables at any places, and could say after few seconds what was the problem exactly. They could order the spare machine and we would get it the next day.. So perfect ! We dismounted the old machine, washed our hands and went to Helsinki to see something from the city at least.
Wednesday 26th of July / Helsinki – Tempere – Ylinen – 220km / 1 Sauna (Rajaportin)
After having a small breakfast, we mounted the Alternator back again, everything was working well again ! The price was really fair, and the guys were Helpful and nice for and little request we had, thank you !
So we went our way, Jan started to drive to central Finland, and I started to drive to Tempere, first taking the small roads, and finally took the the highway, which is free for trucks (Lucky me). I passed through many small villages, where I could admire the interesting way to build houses, wood is everywhere, decently designed, fine ornaments here and then, and weather wise, a low sun and low clouds, making a lot of light contrasts.
The Oldest Sauna in Finland (or in Tempere at least)
When i passed through the city of Tempere I saw this „Sauna“ sign, so I decided to stop there and to check a Sauna. I Was trying to find a parking place in the narrow street of the Rajaportin Sauna, and a sweating man, wearing only a Towel Run out the Sauna place and Screamed “ HEY ! Are you Heading to Teuva!? Is this a Sauna Truck ? Come and visit my Sauna !“ So fine ! I found a Parking spot for the truck and went in… the guy was Pete..
Eventually i discovered it was actually the „OLDEST SAUNA IN FINLAND“ 114 Years old ! The place is magical, man and woman have a separate Room, there is a big stove for both man and woman sides, with more than 1 ton of Stones on it, the Stones get preheated 6 Hours before the Sauna Opens to public ! After the „Kassa“ there is a small Changing room, and then you enter the Sauna room. The room is not like usual. it’s about 4 Meters high, and all made of Stone ( not wood), on two Levels : the lowest level is to wash yourself and to put the water on the stones (they use a 2m long Stick to put the water on the stones to avoid burning themselves), and all the heat and „Löyly“ goes to the first floor, a little Area, 1,70m high, where you can seat 12 persons. Somebody on the first Floor put water on the stones, and according to the time, The Löyly is kind of itchy hard at the beginning people are bending down and put their head between their knees to protect the hears and the brain from burning (i had to get up and switch level which almost never happened to me), but at the end when the stones got colder from the liter and litres of water they got, the Loyla is Soft and nice on the skin.
After the Sauna, I realised Pete is the Sauna Meister of the Rajaportin, he is the one in charge to preheat the Sauna and take care of it till the end 22:00. We discuss a bit and he invites me to an other place where he works, at a camping place called „Wake Valley“, he wants to organise an event next day with an other Sauna and mine, sicne i have 2 more days before heading to Sauna Ajot i accept and follow him and we drive to his place (he is Mobile, and lives in a Bus)
Thursday 27th of July / Ylinen 0km / 3 Saunas (Camion Sauna + Savu Sauna+ Tilau Sauna)
Wake Valley is the place I’ve been invited to, it’s a cable-pulled Wakeboard lake camping, with a wonderful Lake and a special Savu Sauna !
Savu Sauna (Smoke Sauna)
11:00 in the Morning, Pete starts to Heat up the Savu Sauna from the „Wake Valley“. The savu sauna is a Smoked Sauna, so basically you have one or two stoves in the room, many many stones on it, and no smokestack or exhaust to bring the smoke out of the room. At the beginning of the process which takes around 5 Hours, you turn the oven on, open the windows and the doors and let the Fire burn, and play with many parameters in a surgical precision. (Size of the wood pieces, amount of wood, how many air you let in, how far you let the door Open), It is a really dangerous process for many reasons. That’s why the „Sauna Meister“ ALWAYS need to sit right beside the door and have a direct look to the oven. If you give to much air and flames, they would come out the Oven and burn the Sealing of the Sauna, if you let too less fire and air, Carbon Monoxide is produced and could make the room explode. This kind of Sauna is strictly forbidden in Germany, because of those risks, but in Finland no, the well experimented Pete could manage it with brio, and also took the time to explain me how it works.
Experience of Finnish Sauna in my Own Sauna
I also activated my Sauna, i had a really good spot right beside the lake ! My sauna was ready at 15:00 and my first guests were 8 Kids from 8 to 12, who actually really showed me how the Finnish people are making Sauna ! I just put a Bucket with some Birch branches and water in the Sauna room and the kids knew exactly how to manage it, not too much, not too less, no ritual, no hierarchies, no „Saunameister“ making the German towel thing in the Sauna, no special flavour on the „Loyla water“, just straight and easy, thank to those kids i had the best (and i mean it) first Sauna experience in my own Sauna ! The #1 Rule in the Finnish Sauna (the only one actually, except the ones from the „Finnish Sauna Society“ I will talk about later) is that the person who put water on the Stones has no right to leave the room before at least one other person. That teaches you how to manage it so it is bearable for you too, fix your own rule for the Loylä and not trying to kill the others putting too much water and exiting the room before.. Smart, smooth and nice. Also, before that day I never used so much water on my stones, i was always thinking the room would turn too Humid, or break the interior of my lovely „Camion Sauna“, but actually, this is exactly what i need to do to make it nice and smooth, put small amounts of Water in short amount of time, so the stones cannot cool down too fast and are not too hot and the steam has not this itchy effect on the ears and the tits (which some people like but well), So thank you kids ! Afterwards some grown-ups came, and i had the pleasure to meet some really nice People, like Joonas, Michka, Veikko and his wife Alexander, and a lot of other people, who told me a lot of nice things about the Sauna, some stories, how i could make it better, and so on, this was a really nice and tutorial evening.
Das Versagen des „German Aufgusses“
About the „German Aufguss“, I taught it would be nice for a cultural aspect to show the Finnish people how the „Saksaiset Löylyt“ happens, how i make it in general and how people (me Included) like it in Germany, I tried.. really I mean it, but it didn’t work out, because you break a lot of habits they have. First, everybody comes in an out when they want, they don’t care about time. Second, they don’t care about being silent, since Finnish people ( In General) are silent and not talkative all the time EXCEPT in the Sauna, and third, they don’t consider that if you keep the door opened for a too long time you are menaced by death penalty (which has been abolished in Germany luckily, if not many people would have been executed already after the „Close the dooooor“ unanimity screamed sentence). They just compensate the lack of heat with some decent amount of water on the stones. So me (as a Sauna Meister) take the control of the water, I should put more water, and break the increasing of the „Aufguss Climax“ that the German People expect when they go to the Sauna, but the Finnish People don’t care about that. So really nice to see how it works here, I learned a lot and may change my habits back to Germany..
Friday 28th of July / Ylinen – Teuva – Parra 210km / 50 Saunas !
Finally I made it ! TEUVA !!! After 5 Year of Building the truck I motherland for my sauna truck ! Teuva is a Little city, with 6000 habitants, all the trucks, tractors, ambulances, telefonecells, Light-towers are meeting right beside the city centre and start the big parade through the city, to end up at the Lake beside the Parra Montain ! An Orchestra is playing traditional Music on a platform Trailer to celebrate the 100th Year of Finland (Before it was just a Strategic piece of Land which had direct access to the Baltic See the Swedish Army and the Russian Tsar were punching on each others face for, with some inhabitants speaking a language they couldn’t understand)!
What is the Teuvalla Sauna Ajot Festival ?
As usual in Finland, the idea of the Festival started with a joke :
„Hey, we are 10 friends, let’s organise a mobile Sauna festival !“
„Hahaha, that’s a good one !“
„but actually why not ?“
So they put a little word in the local newspaper, and found out that some people from the other cities around also have mobile Saunas, so the met and made the first event ! those were the first steps of the Sauna Ajot !
Now we arrive at the lake of the Parra Mountain for the 11th Edition of the Festival, I just decide to keep my Sauna Closed, and to be a tourist for the First evening, no guests are here, only the people who came with their own Saunas are here, so it’s really intimate. Nice to know a lot of people which already know each others from the previous years and know each other well from the years before. No doubt that this Festival brought a lot of people together, the first years just from the neighbourhood, but know from all Finland (Helsinki / Oulu ) and also International ! (This year from Poland -Polnoc SaunaTruck, Italy with the Sauna Tent and me of course ).
First evening trying different Saunas
Finish hospitality is endless, and i recognize in every person who came with a Sauna the same spirit of being host and guest at the Same time and to celebrate in, to start a conversation you just have to make a stupid Joke about any situation, and a never ending talking starts, I mean, it would be quite surprising if a person building a mobile sauna wouldn’t like jokes.. but anyway i spend a good raining evening, jumping from one Sauna to the next one, trying out some 120° sauna (Transit Sauna), some Tent Saunas (Tellta Sauna from Toivakka), a Military Truck Sauna (Saunanturvajoukot), the Ambulancy Sauna (Saunalanssi) and many many others ! This evening 15 Sauna, and no „German Aufguss“, that’s why it’s easy to go in, enjoy the time and the talks, and leave for a swim to the water, going to the next one and so on, great atmosphere ! I slept really good in my „Cold“truck
Saturday 29th of July / Parra 0km / 65 Saunas !
Finnish weather is really surprising, i woke up early, the truck was shaking, because of the wind and the heavy rain, and two hours after, the sun came out, and started to shine like crazy. The first guests arrived, and after having preheated the Sauna for 2 Hours (I switched from 1 hour to two hours after some suggestions from some people from Ylinen), and it worth it ! it’s good to leave the door Open a good half an hour after the oven starts.
Finnish Sauna Way against German Efficiency
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to make a list of things which are not cool in German Sauna culture, but it’s good to see and to realise that for some reasons, there are some cultural differences and to realise that the things which might be considered as problem from the ones, are actually significant solutions for the others. The heat efficiency is one of them : When I Build my Sauna i really took as absolute rule number one, not to lose any heat, so my isolation process was really intense taking really care of every little hole which could have resulted to energy loss. That’s how I did grow, that’s how it in in the country i live, and that’s how people do and think for Buildings, Vans and Campers and so on, but for Sauna it’s not necessary at all to think this way. The Best Saunas i had this Week end were the ones which had a really clumsy isolation, sometimes even huge holes in the walls, or 2cm space between the Wood pieces on the wall. For the Finnish Purpose with the regular Loylä it’s perfect, the air circulates, and the heat is regulated from the Water you put on the stones, the amount of wood (and the size according of the wood quality) you put in the Stove, the size of the stones you have on your stove and so on.. and nobody cares about how much wood they put in their stove. This is also really not necessary when you are in Finland where trees are growing everywhere, but maybe a bit more when your sauna relies on a nuclear power plant electricity.. so yes, big air circulation !
How many Persons in a Sauna ? Quality instead of quantity..
In my Sauna, when people asked me how many people are fitting i always said 10-12 people, and in Germany for the „Aufguss“ 10-12 people feel confortable in the Sauna when i make. But in Teuva, People went in and out of my Sauna all the time, and in the afternoon, they started to make a line to enter the Sauna, so i Felt kind of proud of course that soooo many persons waited to enter my sauna, and at some point i checked how many persons were sitting inside the Room, and there were just 8-9 People maximum, almost Nobody was sitting on the Lower Bench, which is one of the Rules of the Finnish art of building a Sauna : No Feet should be under the Stone Level (where you put the water on), and not more than two fists between where you and the ceiling. The temperature gradient is really huge from the floor to the stone level, and really small from stone level to the ceiling. So the Finnish people rather wait outside the door, than sitting on the Lowest bench. Interesting again…quality instead of quantity.
About looking at people entering and coming out the Sauna.
One of the biggest satisfaction i have with my creation, is to see how people look after the Sauna, some are talkative, some not, some are sweating like crazy or not, but that doesn’t matter. I always find the look of the persons interesting. This is the one pleasure I have doing the German Aufguss, but it’s also a similar feeling i had on sitting on a bench outside and looking at the hundreds of persons entering the Sauna and coming out of it right after. The eyes were wide open, the view clear, the concentration big, complete contrast to the short moment of suffering they could have showed in the Sauna right after having put the water on the stones, and the release, the moment when people keep silent because of the tension and then le releasing moment. Where is the pleasure in the suffering is interesting, at what point did the little 9-11 year old kids learn that it’s OK to suffer a bit, afterwards you will feel great, this is really interesting, and makes me think a lot about the cultural condition and meanings of pain and pleasure, and about religion too.. (Damn, now you know what’s going on in my head when i make the German Aufguss 🙂
Sauna Ajot Crazyness
It’s hard to tell how crazy this event was, how many lovely new persons i met, how much input i had those almost 48 hours of Sauna passionated discussions In english, I didn’t understand nothing in Finnish except the words „Sauna“, „Loylä“ „Kiitos“ (thank you, they told me after the sauna) and „Parras Sauna“ (I asked what Parras means and they told me it means „best Sauna“) and I felt really proud about that ! If the Finnish people think my Sauna is fucking Parras, then i’m fucking happy 🙂 some pictures will tell you more and better about this 🙂
Sunday 30th of Juli / Parras-Teuva-Kaskinen : 45km / 1 Sauna
This have been a really crazy first week of travelling, meeting new persons, discovering so much different things and processes, persons, I feel I need to rest in a place for one day, with nobody, and my friend Pete told me he new a good camping, on a small Island close to the cost and we should go there, to be in calm a bit, i really liked that idea. After having turned on the Sauna for a few hours in the Morning, all the participants of the festival started to head to their home again, and i started to pack my stuff, to fold the roof balcony, to fill some water tanks, released and happy about the idea of having a little moment of piece, enjoying a little barbecue, with no spectacular action stuff, to process all the things I’ve seen those last 8 Days, happy to follow this plan.
After having said goodbye and exchanged the last visit cards, I started the engine and followed Pete with his bus.. when .. I Told you at the beginning, that the story might and with some problems, here we go..
The Fall and the rise of the Phoenix Blue Elefant
I was Driving 50km/h to let the engine get warm as usual, so really easy peezy speed, and i saw this grandma driving a bicycle, so i went on the left lane of the road. The roads in Finland are not so flat as i know them in Germany or France or wherever, they are more bend, so high in the middle and low on the side, so if you pass from the right lane (trucks is slightly bend to the right) to the left lane (truck slightly bend to the left) you have to be careful because there is one point where the balance is changing side, one reason more to drive only 50 on this road, and the stuff happens what they teach you at the truck driving school : “ If you fall asleep while you are driving and make an accident, and the police is asking, just say you were driving and a fly went into your eye and you lost control“.. Well, and what if you were driving and a fly really went in your eye and hurt so much that you really lost control, and crashed your truck you have been building for 5 Years ? You don’t say nothing, to nobody, you start to scream and to cry, and to shake like crazy and to fall in a shock state for at least 15mn. After I lost control, the truck went on the right side of the road, fall on the side, and slide for about 10m before it stopped moving. I looked inside the truck and started to scream, everything fell of his initial position, the truck was on the side, my 5 Years dream was just like that broken, in 5 seconds.. I quickly turned of the engine, jump out the truck turned the gas bottle off, and just sit on the floor and started crying, I tried to roll a cigarette but couldn’t, I was shaking so much, I just saw how slowly the grandma was approaching with her bicycle, there was nothing to say. The next car approached and the didn’t even call the police, they just called a Tractor, not even 5mn the first tractor was here i didn’t even realised what happen a part of the solution was already engaged, with one tractor from the side we couldn’t make it so they called a second tractor, all private persons, no official police, no fireman, just people from Teuva organising themselves to help me, in less than on hour, the truck was standing on the road again, I tried to start the engine again, and it worked perfectly. The Complete right side of the truck was scratched, the mirror broken, and the side door also, mechanically everything seemed to be normal ok, So we decided to drive ahead a public place close to the centre, so I could take the stuff out the truck and try to repair things.
The Finnish way to help out
On the way to there, we met the „Bus Sauna“ persons i was talking to the day before, and they brought me to there workshop, the boss of the workshop came and in a little time, more than 10 People were helping to get off the stuff of the truck, clean my clothings which went dirty from the fridge opening, to bend back the doors, to change the broken mirrors and so on and so on, there was a crazy wave of solidarity. I asked everybody if they want to have a beer or drinks or wine or whatever i still had in the truck which didn’t break in the crash, the all said no, even the Truck mechanic didn’t want any money for the mirror, „He comes from so far away and he has a sauna“. I felt really useless and grateful, and also really wasted out and tired at the same time.. At the end he asked me if I want to get the mud of the wheels, so it’s not looking so shitty.. even then he kept a sense for aesthetic..
Still the truck is not perfect but now it drives and is safe again, the Sauna is (almost) not damaged and can be used ! … and i will continue my trip to the next stops, but for now I need to get some rest, the good thing with human body, the scars are fixing themselves, the truck will need more attention and time to look nice again..
Next Stops :
02.08 : @ Verket (Umeå)
03-05.08 : @ Urkult Festival (Näsåker)
07-08.08 : @ Surfbukten (Östersund)
09-11.08 : @ Hoverberg Art Festival (Hoverberg)
13-14.08 : Yoga And Market @ Cul de Sac (Stockholm)
18.08 : @ Lake (Dalby)
19.08 : @ tbc (Malmö)
PART TWO : Sweden
Monday and Tuesday 31th of July, 1st of August / Kaskinen – 0 Sauna
May you could read it in the last page „Finland : part 1“ about the Start of the Tour in Finland, after all those beautiful moments, I had a serious truck crash, nobody go injured except of my confidence and some pieces of metal and wood. I feel like explaining you the process of my „healing“ before going on the road again, and telling you what I’ve learned on my trip
About managing and dealing with a stressful situation, afterwards..
Finaly after those kind of stressful moments I realised there are many ways of getting over a Situation like that, of course mine was the best 🙂 Even though afterwards it’s kind of easy to realise stuff like “How lucky I went, everything will be fine, don’t worries, those are just material things”, or maybe to get a proper Interpretation about things like “Finally I also experimented the finish helpfulness” or the “It had to happen” thing, in that really moment it’s hard to deal with it. For me to hear “It will be OK” or people trying me to help me talking to the future wasn’t helping at all. The pain was there, the shock is present, in this very moment, and talking about future is a process that only opens slowly again after having accepted the present. I didn’t exclude the fact that I tried to get over it telling me that to myself really often also to convince myself, but when it came from the outside I just couldn’t hear it.
So how to do to deal with it ?
Syndromes about my post-traumatic experience : I had some nightmare of my truck crashing 3 nights long / Sometimes in the day, I realised I was talking loud saying “Shit Shit Shit”, and when I spoke loud I realised I was daydreaming about the accident / In the day I couldn’t concentrate, I was really tired / when I drove I was visualising the accident a lot
My solutions ? Talk to nobody, have some rest, watch movies, organise my truck again, cook.
Is it really possible to help somebody in this position ? (or me at least)
After two days on just staying at the same spot, don’t driving, looking outside through my window, I finally could see a bit an other present, and felt the changes of willing another present again, and the will to go forward. My friend MyKey is a really skilful person for those kind of situations, it was great visiting her afterwards, and having some phone calls with her : she just accepted what happened, and had full understanding of the situation, and had a nice balance, just involving me in nice things. Even if it’s hard to feel understood in those sitution, it’s sweeter and faster to recover if people have some compassion..
After some days, the nightmares went less, I still have a bad feeling driving the truck on small roads, I lost some confidence in my driving skills, and I often visualize a Truckcrash when I look at the right side of the road, so I feel my neck and my back get stressed from driving, but after some km driven, it’s getting better and better. One thing is sure, fear of driving gets transformed into respect for the road. (we talked a lot about that with Max from Uppströms, he crashed a truck on some Swedish roads too ; “Shitty feeling huh?” he said, I approved..you will learn to know him soon 🙂
OK, Back on tracks !
I leave the little city of Kaskinen, and head to Vaasa to take the Ferry. I got the really bad habit to expect everything perfect from myself and from the others, so you can believe I didn’t feel “that good” driving a damaged truck. MyKey told me “Scars are sexy”, I really understood what she meant but I was also thinking “ fucking hell, it’s not a scar, it’s a blue eye somebody got for being punched in the face, it doesn’t feel sexy yet, it’s painful! Can you think somebody is sexy if he has a blue eye because this somebody just just got kicked violently in the Face? NO!!” ..but at some point I accepted she was right 🙂
So yep, heading to Vaasa to take the ferry, the whole Finnish coast is crowded by people talking Swedish, even thaugh they could speak Finnish, some of them just refuse to do it, a kind of cultural heritage from the times Finnland use to be pulled back and forth between Sweden and Russia, I don’t judge, I just realised that if you try to say “Moi” (Hi in Finnish), the people answer “Hey Hey” (Hi in Swedish)
Finaly I took the Ferry to Umea, and arrived by night at “Verket”. On the way out the ferry, the Fog came out and spread all over the dark fields, it wasn’t possible to tell if it’s a lake or just a field, it gave a really hazy and dreamy atmosphere to the road leading to Umea.
Wednesday 2nd of August / Umea – 1 Sauna (and one swimming pool)
Jag är i Umeå, pronounced “yoäréüméo”(I’m in Umeå), when somebody says it loud it sounds like a famous Tirol Jodl. Umeå is a Town with some really low houses and constructions, some traditional, and some more concrete, but really calm and quiet, you can reach the river really easily to jump in the Water..
Niki organised this event at Verket tonight, It’s the first time I’m heating up for public since the crash, so I’m a bit worried and excited, but Nikki and MyKey helped me a lot to prepare the evening ! So we had 3 Bands playing on 3 different spots (Lovisa & John on the Skateboard ramp, „Gravedigger and the Teachers“ one in the Garden and „Meike and the Flamin’gods“ on the rooftop of the Camion !) and in the same time the sauna was running and people could jump in the Pool ! It was a really great and cosy atmosphere
The Swedish way of doing the Sauna … seems to be really different from the Finish style, it’s much more quiet, and people use way less water than in Finland, so I could not figure out yet if it’s because they prefer it dry, or if it was too warm for them already and they don’t want to make more steam, or maybe they just feel shy of taking over the responsibility of putting water on the stones, anyway, I had a little bit more chance to try to make a German Aufguss, and people didn’t look too shocked, so maybe the Swedish style is closer to the German style ? Let’s see 🙂
Thursday 3rd till Sunday 6th of August : Urkult Festival (Nassäker) – 2 Saunas
When I heard about the Festival and saw the bands playing there I felt I would try to go there. And since it was on my way south (more or less) I got in contact with Max from the Üppströms café and camping close to the festival. Some people told me it would be an amazing festival, and some people would just go there and stay in the camping because the atmosphere would be so nice.
So I called Max some weeks before, and he told me it “I already have a Sauna, but come with yours it will be great ! And I have a good spot for you right beside the café ! I also can make the Booking and the reservation for your sauna if you want !” I was just thinking : this guy might have not understood me well : I will go to his camping, make concurrence to his own sauna, and he will help me to make even more concurrence ? 🙂 But it was not like that, Max is just an amazing great and open hearted person, he liked the nice potential and the crazy project of the Camion Sauna, and wanted to support it, and gave me some space for a few days to unfold my Sauna and catch some people !
Duality between Booked Sauna and “No-Reservation Sauna”
At the same time his sauna (based on reservation and Pre-Booking) run, and mine too (based on no-reservation and donations). So the way to get the Saunas were really different, and so the sauna-guests too. Some of them tried both saunas yes, but mainly it turned into a kind of “closed circle of friends Sauna” VS “Everybody chills out together and learn to know each other Sauna”.
Mirror : good technique how to get a picture from the „right side of your damaged Truck“
Good feelings when the Donation system works good..
I always feel good when I realise this “donation” thing is working good. Not only because I make some cash which is great also to travel, but also because it makes me feel that the people who tried my sauna are also aware of what it means building a sauna, what it costs to run it, to travel with it, and the support they offer is great. I’m not judging people who are not donating, this is the part of the deal also to have the possibility not to give a lot if you cannot afford it, so somebody will give more and it will cover the costs, but if feels good when persons are donating for your work. OR maybe I’m completely in this hippie thing and I didn’t consider that in Sweden people just have more money in general and that’s why they don’t feel so bad about donating some Krone for a good Sauna.. Tell me if I’m blind, I cannot see it 🙂
About walking home at 3.AM over the bridge.. almost daylight..
About The Urkult Festival..
The location of this event is just amazing, the big stage is just on the top of a mountain surrounded by trees, and water everywhere. I asked where to get drinking water, and Max answered “You are in Nässäker, there is ONLY drinking water”, the festival relies a lot about the Volunteer, so if you help for 12 hours (on the 4 days) you come for free to the festival, I think this is the fairest conditions I heard till now, really nice ! (12 hours is not much, according to the fact that you can get some free food at the “Personal Fiket”, meet some nice people in your group, and enter for free to the festival). The Food crew of the “Personal Fiket” was amazing, I had the Chance to try some really tasty things, but more than a canteen, the” Personal Fiket” was more a meeting point, and after the Saturday’s last concert, a Jam Session started at 2am till 8 in the morning ! Crazy ! (It was already bright day at 3am.. the nights are short).
About the Spirit of the Festival, I would say “Grown-Up Hippies meeting kids / No Commercial Event / No Trash after the visitors went / Black Culture appropriation in somehow / And a lot of Woman on Stage (50% from the bands had a front-woman)”
Sunday late afternoon, I took some persons I met at the “Fiket” and we drove with the truck to Östersund together, goodbye countryside, beautiful river and Max.
When I Arrived in Östersund on sunday at 21:00, I had „the Specials“ song “Ghost town” running in my head, it really felt like that. Some buildings, empty streets even in the Restaurant area (which almost all closed at 20:00). It wouldn’t be that shocking I guess if the city would have been smaller, or if it would have been dark, but since it was still really bright, I had a weird feeling..
My codrivers Hanna, Hedda and James invited me for a nice Pizza after we walked a long time to find an open restaurant… I don’t why it feels so good to eat some Junk food after eating three days of healthy food, but fact is, it’s great.. A had a similar weird feeling when I went to Senegal, and I suddenly needed to drink coca cola there, even though I never drink coke at home normally…
Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th of August – Surfbukten (Östersund) – 4 Saunas
Östersund is a city build beside the 3rd big Lake in Sweden, and Surfbukten is a place on the non-crowdy side of the bridge heading to a small half Island. On Monday I finaly went to meet Simon the manager of the place Surfbukten.
When he arrived in this little bay on the other side of the “Main Side” 7 years ago, there was nothing and nobody wanted to hang out there, it was too far away from the center. So he decided to put his little caravan there and to follow his vision : to make a nice place, opened to everybody, with some outdoors activities and events, to create a meeting point for people. In somehow I could recognise myself in his Open minded attitude, his tenacity, and his skills to create something starting from zero, just following his instinct. I discovered a guy who likes to follow a crazy idea, and even makes it bigger, and this with a lot of heart. Even though I have to admit I’m not really into the Surf culture, the place is more than that (I saw a lot of refugee kids playing volleyball there, families having a birthday party, kids making Wakeboarding), it’s possible just to have a place to stay without paying money, meeting people, the world needs more places like that.
The Surfbukten Saunathon
So the Sauna evenings went great, Simon had set some other Saunas ! He just bought some Sauna Tents, the one used from the Russian army, and made the “Saunathon”, like, trying the first Sauna, jumping into the water, to swim to the second one, than some stand-up paddle boarding heading to the third sauna, and after the 4th Sauna, you could get some food and some alc free drinks 🙂 Nice and funny Idea ! Some people enjoyed it a lot ! Thank you simon for having set up the Event !
Hard Awakening..
A Little Surprising was the TV and newspaper crew who knocked on my door the next morning.. I hoped it would be Simon with some breakfast, or coffee but it wasn’t, they were already filming when I opened the door just wearing my underwear.. Simon had a good understanding of the situation and brought me some coffee to make my brain work for the Interviews.. It helped 🙂
If you want to read some Swedish about me go for it :
In Sweden and especially in Östersund, I discovered the Loppis (2nd hand shop), the concept is easy, you go to a place and rent an empty shelf for one Week or longer, and you can put the things you want to sell, and the people sell it for you. Sometimes bigger places and more like a shopping mall, sometimes smaller like a basement from private persons. You can see a lot of those “Loppis” signs on the side of the road, it seems to be really common, even if internet and some 2nd hand online websites, facebook groups or other things have been really present for many years in Sweden now, I like those kind of Analog by-passes ! Let’s see how many years they will still survive, but still since is it most of the time some private persons having junk from the neighbours in their basement, it’s not correlated with a lot of profit and big rental place to pay anyways, so it might be staying for longer..
Wednesday 9th and Saturday 12th of August – Hoverberg – 2 Saunas
Meeting Anton
When I finally decided to get Instagram to share some pictures, and have „a little“ internet presence, the meta data generators turned crazy and the suggested me to an „@artsauna“ to my friends, I was thinking who the fuck are you Instagram to tell me who is my friend..“, so i kind of ignored it but stilll i checked the profile. Anton is an artist living in Stockholm who loves Sauna.. After a while my friend Zosen from Spain, told me „Hey Jerome, with your mobile sauna truck you should meet me friend Anton from Stockholm“.. so the coincidence was too big, and I decided to write him to meet him, since my tour was passing through Stockholm. Actually he invited me to come with my truck to the little village of Hoverberg where him and 3 other guys were supposed to do some spray art in the biggest cave of Sweden, not so far from Östersund.ing
So I came there to meet them, and we had a really nice time, just chilling, talking, taking sauna and giving free Sauna for the habitants of Hoverberg.
So for some days, my truck was parked with the Sauna trailer #artsauna from Anton,it’s good to have a little community for some day, having good saunas in the evening 🙂
Gratis Bastu : when not trying something still inspires..
Well, the Idea about offering the Free sauna was to make the people meet and to talk a bit, we went hosted at the Marina, closed to the main camping. The Persons felt really shy, and even though some of them tried the Sauna, it was still considered as a piece of art and as a testimony „how crazy can the world be“, more than „Great a sauna, let’s try“, but even that was really fine and nice and made a lot of people talk about it, it opens a lot of peoples mind to see something different, even though they are not trying it. Maybe that’s one of the greatest things too, people don’t need to try something to get inspired of it. Even though I’m a practical person, and I would always prefer to try things out to get inspired and to feel some energy, I recognised it’s great to have a philosophical source of inspiration.
About refugees and solidarity
I really noticed it in Sweden, even in little villages like Hoverberg, the solidarity and the help shown by the local people is huge towards refugees. The People who run the Cafe close to the camping were helping the two Somalian girls to make a little business with their cooking skills, or also the made a meeting point for some young refugee guys so they could have a barbecue close to the lake, make a nice grill in the afternoon, spreading some blankets on the grass and just chill, this is kind of really generous even though you don’t expect this from the village people because some of them act really shy.. That’s not so hard in Sweden to offer some space to somebody, since there is a lot of space, but to offer some public and private space already in use from locals is way more grateful. I was trying to imagine how it would be in a small village in France or Germany, I should check it out one day again..
The Art festival of Hoverberg (still has no name)
This was the first year some local persons tried to make this project start and grow, so they didn’t have any name for that and asked for the public to put some suggestions into a mail box.
The spraying didn’t take place on the rocks directly, but on heavy boards of plumb, good and solid material to paint on it, doesn’t react with the wet stones, and good also to hammer on to make it fit on the rocks. So the paintings canvas will get pressed on the rock to make them fit there for at least one year until the next edition of the festival.
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About the Epa (or Triangle cars)
I was wondering when I was driving the truck, why some cars (even though they look powerful, live Volvos are just driving 30km/h on an open road ! I was thinking first it might me a grandpa or grandma driving, but when I passed the car i could see young kids driving ! So either they are completely stoned and feel like they are driving 100km/h and actually just drive 30km/h.. BUT NO ! there is a better explanation ! Those cars have been transformed to drive maximal 30km/h, and they fixed an orange Triangle on the back and the car, and so they don’t need any driving licence and can drive from 15 years old ! This sounds a bit like crazy to me, but actually why not, maybe it’s not so dangerous that driving a little scooter with 14 years old, and give the kids to move a bit between the different villages and give them a mobility possibility, great too.
So Great concept,, t’ill I met those 3 guys !! They just arrived and parked their really big Scania Truck, modified to be an Epa ! Crazy !
Leaving Hoverberg to reach Stockholm and Malmö was making feel like the end of the trip slowly approaches. I chose to drive a regular road and not the highway, the way is shorter and slower, there are no many cars, and even if the road is kind of bad, it is good to feel that the fear of driving decreases km after km, it’s a great satisfaction to get to drive with pleasure again while you drive across lake landscapes and empty spaces, it helps a lot to relax. The long trip made me arive in Stockholm at 1:00 in the morning, everything was dark again, except of the social room of the Båtklubb, Jene waited for me playing an Untuned guitar, telling me some stories about the Snake he saw the day before, the Motorcycle accident he had and after some beers, we got lost in Translation and I went to bed finaly 🙂
Sunday 13th and Monday 14th of August – Café cul-de-sac (Stockholm) – 2 Saunas
It’s always magical waking up in a place you arrived at by night, you can feel where you are the night before of course you could see some details in the dark, but the daylight gives a ensemble view, every detail gets sharper and all the details connect together with or without any sense.
About details getting connected together
When I arrived at the café cul-de-sac by night I could only see a place to park my truck close to the water and nothing more. Louise, the owner of Café cul de sac, put a lot of good intentions in organising details of her café, every little object placed anywhere just communicate good with the others. Every object and accessories have a good visual, aesthetical or/and practical function at the same time. Just practical is boring, just aesthetical feels not convenient sometimes, and visually good, also means like you feel in a museum, and doesn’t feel like you want to create anything
This proportional and organic way to dispose items, make me feel like the person have a good balance and interest of positioning herself in the little world she created, and I feel really good being in a place like that, and close to those kind of persons. From a photographic point of view, I would say that „any object you want to photography have a correspondent or something which make a repeal in the background somewhere“, and if lenses would allow to take a picture having really closed foreground and really far background on focus at the same time you could have on the same picture two objects that communicate good with each other. Do you get me ? 🙂 excuse my french..
Louise and the Café Cul de Sac – A semi-nomadic way to live
I really liked the way Louise is proceeding with her Café : She started the Cul de sac 6 years ago, and she stays at the boatclub place for 3 Month in the Summer (there is space because the boats are on the water and not onlands) she makes a beautiful spot for a few month a years and then packs everything together again, and continues her life, takes care of her family and gives more to other aspect of her life for the rest of the year. I could identify myself in her also, she needs to do things and to be 100% on something for a short time, and she changes again after a few month. It’s a kind of „Semi-Nomadic“ way to live not even geographically, but also in the way to process in your life and to deal with things. She inspired me a lot !
Wellness day
So Louise made up this event and organised a Tent where people could just do massage and chill, and people could just go from Sauna to massage to Terrace and to the water !it was really nice making this event right beside the boat club, a lot of different people met on the same spot ! Anton (#artsauna) started his Sauna too, and we spend a really good day together, I felt happy again just checking the happy relaxed faces of the people walking out the Saunas !
Tuesday 15th of August – Stockholm-Malmö – 600km – 0 Sauna
After those two wonderful days on land and water, I spent a whole day on wheels again driving from Stockholm to Malmö. My friend Vroni from Berlin joined me on those kilometers. And even though the 600 km took us 11 hours , It felt like we had a good time and we made a world revolution in hour head for a few hours, we talked about everything, mainly politics.. It’s good to speak in a language you feel familiar with (German)
About using a third language
One of the nice things I realised on this tour, is that my English (even if it’s a really crappy English) is a perfectly fine tool to communicate in a country where English is not the Mothertongue. It’s always great to use a third language to communicate and to exchange when you travel. It offers the host and the guest the possibility to get closer to the guest and the opposite also, it creates a neutral meeting point, without a scale. The type of conversation also gets different somehow more neutral and interesting. It seems important to me, since I can make a parallel with my mobile sauna, visiting people, trying to make this exchange horizontal (being host and guest at the same time)..at least in some countries where English is recognised as useful and where the people understand the necessity of learning a foreign language. It is really convenient to be in Scandinavia for that reason, one day I will drive to Balkans with my truck, and I kind of know English will not be spoken so much and so universally..
Wednesday 16th – Saturday 19th of August – Malmö – 1 Sauna
Kontrapunkt Malmö / Ribberborgstranden 17th of August
Kontrapunkt is one of the structures who tries to make political activism, on a really concrete way, on a street level, and vertically also. They have a bicycle workshop, a Screenprint workshop, some Computer clubs, dance Room and different other activities room, could provide some warm food for homeless people last winter and some places to rest a bit for refugees two years ago, and used culture and music as a way to get money to support their action. The whole concept made totally sense to me, since I visited the place for the first time 4 Years ago. things changed, the people developed their interests and always kept on focus, that even if it’s hard sometimes to talk and to deal with different cultures, and characters, it always worth it. So instead of getting uniformed, white man/woman middle class, Kontrapunkt is really open and always struggles for communication and exchanges on different levels, as well for small groups as for big groups, local and global. For my experience of Houseprojects and collectives it is the Structure that works the bests and nade great things without forgetting to question the directions and the way to get where you are heading at ! Since a few month they are not only fighting for others, but for themselves also.. because of some Location problems, they had to stop some of their activities, and started a big solidarity campaign (read more on their website) Since they are working a lot, MyKey suggested to make a small sauna event for the persons of the main crew of Kontrapunkt, so they could chill out and meet in an other context than work at the beach of Ribberborgstranden. Team building is something great and helps to get over some tensions, glad my Sauna was part of it for a good cause 🙂
Celebrating the last day.. 18th of August – Malmö Klangshamnstranden
One Day before taking the ferry back to Berlin, we had a casual sauna evening with some friends at Klangshamnstranden, we just had a chilled out evening with an amazing barbecue and Jam Sessions, some people I already met at the Urkult Festival came also, it feels good to see some „Old New faces“ again.
About processing and analysing the „results“ of a non-quantifiable and non-mesurable project. (except of the km driven and the Fuel consumed)
It was a great evening, and also I started to process a bit all the things I experimented, all the situations I went in, what happened on a human level, to me and to the others, and I had solid and devoted nice talks about economic growth and the french „Décroissance“ that Stéphane Hessel tried to explain. I felt like giving to peoples a place to have a Sauna, which is timeless, non-productive and non mesurable made me kind of an actor of this way to think. So that’s why I’m really enthousiastic about one of the next event I will take part : the Unframed Festival in Berlin (2-5 Nov), the topic of this festival is this „décroissance“, I really encourage you to take part of it !
After visiting Finland for the Sauna Ajot (Finally ! After 5 Years of thinking to go there i make it ! ) I will be around in Sweden From 2nd of August till 20th of August.
The Sauna Tour will start in Umea driving south to Malmö ! If anybody wants to invite me around i would love to meet you !
Dates :
29.7 : Teuva (Finland)
2.8 : Umea
3-5.8 : Urkult Fest
18.8 : Malmö
So if you feel interested and live between these places contact me ! I will come and visit !
Es war mein erstes Mal auf dem Hedo mit meinem Camion Sauna, ein Aktivistischen, Polit und künstlerischen Fest, wo ich ein grossen teil der Leute mit etwas wärme bescheren konnte, gut zu wissen : Sonnenbrände und Sauna fühlen sich kombiniert nur Semi-gut an am Anfang, nach zwei Aufgüsse ist die Temperaturen sensoren so verwirrt dass man es kaum noch merkt..
Damit ich mir auch etwas von den tausende Workshops und theaterstücke ansehen konnte, habe ich die Sauna von Wiebo „Saunasitten lassen“, danke für den Plattdütschen Aufguss !
Zum Camion Sauna standen auch die FIT Feurwehr Sauna von Didda, und eine schöne Dom Sauna aus Lattenrosten- Geodische Kuppel und Planen gebaut (wo eine Nackt-Rave sich noch irgendwann improvisierte..)
Auf dem Rückweg nach Berlin haben wir nach dem starken Gewitter ungefähr der schönste breitbenigen Regenbogen zu sehen bekommen was in der Weltgeschichte je gegeben hat ! Ohne Scheiss
Le Camion Sauna : 7,5 Tonnen für 95° ! 