Few Points is an evening of conversations on the themes of The Dew Point, a documentary performance by Kristina Norman premiering at Baltic Circle on November 28.
The sauna is a space built with social consequence. Inside, heat, nudity, and proximity suspend ordinary social rules and generate new conditions for relation.
During the evening, we will discuss sauna and peacebuilding, sauna cultures and diplomacy, and saunas as spaces of transformation. The conversation draws from Kristina Norman’s upcoming performance, where the renovation of a Soviet-era sauna in Estonia becomes an investigation of her father’s military past and the Baltic region’s collective memory.
The evening’s conversation partners are Kristina Norman, artist and creator of The Dew Point; Hannele Valkeeniemi, director of the Finnish Cultural Institute in Estonia; and Tuomas Toivonen, architect and caretaker of Kulttuurisauna. The discussion will be moderated by Oliver Issak and Katharina Joy Book, dramaturgs of The Dew Point.
The event takes place in the Kulttuurisauna salon. The saunas will not be heated during the event, but your ticket includes one free pass to Kulttuurisauna — redeemable anytime within the next 100 years.
WITH:
Kristina Norman (EST) is an artist based in Tallinn, whose interdisciplinary work includes video installations, sculptures, documentary films, and performances. She has represented Estonia twice (in 2009 and 2022) at the international Venice Art Biennale, and her 2019 performance “Lighter Than Woman” received wide recognition and acclaim. Norman’s works are marked by a deep sensitivity to human struggles, offering the viewer a chance for personal recognition.
Hannele Valkeeniemi has served as Director of the Finnish Institute in Estonia since 2022. She previously worked at the Embassy of Finland in Tallinn and as a journalist and producer for Yle’s current affairs television programs. Her interests include sauna culture, sauna diplomacy, and the sauna as a space for dialogue, safety, and trust. She is a founding member of the Finnish-Estonian Sauna Society and creator of the “Naked Truth” sauna dialogue concept, launched as part of Tartu 2024 – European Capital of Culture. Her personal motto is: “A better world through sauna.”
Tuomas Toivonen is an architect, musician and artist, who also operates the Kulttuurisauna public bath and cultural space in Helsinki. As an architect, Tuomas has focused mostly on housing, restorations and saunas, and has been an active educator, writer and commentator on architecture, urbanism and spatial culture. In addition to his architecture praxis, Toivonen has maintained a parallel career as performing, recording and sonic artist.
MODERATED BY:
Oliver Issak is a production dramaturg and playwright based in Tallinn, Estonia. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Social Design at the Estonian Academy of Arts and continues his long-term artistic work at the Institute of Meetings and Non-Meetings, exploring how artistic practice can engage with and reshape social discourse.
Katharina Joy Book (DE/USA, 1995) is an artist based in Berlin, Germany. She writes, directs, and performs her own work and supports other artists in the independent theater scene as a dramaturge, stage manager and occasional translator. She is a long-standing collaborator of Ariel Efraim Ashbel and friends, most recently on My Kingdom for a Joke (2025). Katharina holds a BA from Central Saint Martins College, London and an MA from the Academy of Performing Arts, Prague.