Solar Egg - a unique art project visits Skellefteå

Riksbyggens sauna Solar Egg, created by the internationally renowned artist duo Bigert & Bergström, is visiting Skellefteå during the period February to April. Bigert & Bergström have shed light on the planet's climate changes through their art for over 30 years. The world-famous sauna was designed in 2017 as a symbol of new beginnings in connection with the urban transformation of Kiruna. In the growth city of Skellefteå, Riksbyggen is planning over 200 new apartments in the next few years, so they saw an opportunity to discuss the innovative development here by lending the sauna to Skellefteå Kunsthall.

Solar Egg will become a vibrant meeting place with a warm heart at Sara Kulturhus in the spring of 2023.

PLACE: Sara Kulturhus North Terrace in Skellefteå
WHEN: February 11 - May 5 2023

Bigert & Bergström

The artist duo Bigert & Bergström created the "Solar Egg" as a sculptural symbol that evokes rebirth.

This is because Kiruna will undergo a major change when the entire town will be relocated due to the extraction of iron ore. Since April 2017, Solar Egg has visited Kiruna, Björkliden, Paris, Artipelag outside Stockholm, Gällivare, Copenhagen and Minneapolis.

Facts about Solar Egg

• Solar Egg is 4.5 metres high and 12.6 metres in circumference.

• The piece weighs 2750 kg.

• The fireplace is shaped like a human heart and weighs 750 kg.

• The lighting uses electricity from its own solar array.

• The assembly of the 69 golden plates using 1512 screws takes 4 to 5 days.

The recipient of Bigert & Bergström's Solar Egg is Skellefteå Konsthall in collaboration with Sara Kulturhus and The Wood Hotel by Elite.

Learn more at riksbyggen.se

"What an experience the sauna bathers will have! With Solar Egg's visit to Skellefteå, we want to highlight the modern and innovative development that Skellefteå is undergoing. The fact that we get to adorn Sara Kulturhus with Sweden's largest and most well-known gold nugget warms the cockles."

Mathias Sandberg, Concept Manager Business Area Housing at Riksbyggen.

Skellefteå Konsthall

Skellefteå Konsthall produces exhibitions and programmes, works with artistic design according to the one-percent rule and maintains and displays an art collection where the vision is to contribute to increasing interest in and understanding of contemporary art. But also to promote everyone's opportunity to experience art, inspire personal creativity and support artistic work.

Sara Kulturhus

Right in the centre of Skellefteå you will find Västerbotten's new lighthouse, Sara kulturhus. One of the world's tallest wooden buildings. A climate-positive building where the forests from which the raw material comes are visible from the Vana Spa on the 20th floor, and where the heat and cold are regulated by the power of the Skellefte River. Together with The Wood Hotel by Elite, Skellefteå's new meeting place for concerts, performances, meetings, exhibitions, events and congresses is being created.

The Wood Hotel

Discover northern Sweden in the borderland between nature and innovation at The Wood Hotel. With passion, inspiration and care, we bring the world to Skellefteå. Built in wood from the local forests and designed for you and our nature. We take responsibility for both people and planet and strive to inspire our guests to make better choices. Welcome to The Wood Hotel by Elite - a new destination by Elite Hotels.

Award-winning design

Solar Egg for Riksbyggen has received a number of awards, including the prestigious Red Dot Award for design, the 2017 Steel Building Award and won the German Design Award and the Swedish Arts & Business Awards. Solar Egg has also won awards in the Swedish Design Prize and the London International Awards. In 2018, popular culture magazine Time Out named Solar Egg as the third most spectacular tourist destination in the world. More than 1.3 billion people have been able to read about the sauna or see the photographs by Jean-Baptiste Béranger on social and digital media. A book about Solar Egg was published in 2019 by Art&Theory.

The journey of the Solar Egg

Together with the artist duo Bigert & Bergström, Riksbyggen created the Solar Egg sauna and set it up in Kiruna. Since then, the sauna has become a worldwide success and has toured the world.

"The aim of Solar Egg is to highlight social transformation and sustainability through conversation. The fact that we now get to do this in Skellefteå, one of Sweden's most expansive and modern places, will be very interesting and exciting"

Johanna Frelin, CEO of Riksbyggen.