In-person

Scand30: 1 Object, The Wierlo Sauna by Andrew K. Nestingen

2655 NW Market Street, Seattle, WA 98107

206.789.5707

Our ever-popular Scand30 series returns with a twist! Join University of Washington's Andrew Nestingen for a dive into Johan Wierlo’s mysterious sauna, built more than a century ago and now located in the East Garden at the National Nordic Museum.

Some Finnish words are ancient and mysterious: veri, käsi, sauna. Blood, arm, sauna. These words are at least ten thousand years old. They come from deepest Finno-Ugric culture. What does "sauna" mean? What mysteries are attached to it? Are such mysteries connected to Johan Wierlo’s sauna, built more than a century ago at Finn Hill (in today’s Kirkland), and now located at the National Nordic Museum? Learn more at a sauna evening (saunailta), the first in a series of lectures at the Museum titled Scand30: 1 Object.

About the series:

Co-presented with the University of Washington's Department of Scandinavian Studies, this latest iteration of our popular Scand30 series uses one object in the Museum's collection as a point of departure for the speaker's topic. These short, snappy talks are delivered by University of Washington faculty and reflect current research. A light reception will follow the presentation.

Speaker

Andrew K. Nestingen

Andrew K. Nestingen is Professor and Chair of the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Washington. Nestingen’s research is organized around the question: How does textual form figure in the way people construct, imagine, and regulate their social worlds?
Bio

Andrew K. Nestingen

Andrew K. Nestingen is Professor and Chair of the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Washington. Nestingen’s research is organized around the question: How does textual form figure in the way people construct, imagine, and regulate their social worlds?

His most recent book is The Cinema of Aki Kaurismäki: Contrarian Stories (2013), published in the Wallflower imprint of Columbia University Press. His Scandinavian Crime Fiction, co-edited with Paula Arvas, was published by the University of Wales Press in 2011. Other books of his include Crime and Fantasy in Scandinavia: Fiction, Film, and Social Change (2008) published by the University of Washington Press in the New Directions in Scandinavian Studies series, and Transnational Cinema in a Global North: Nordic Cinema in Transition (2005), co-edited with Trevor Elkington. He has written articles on Aki Kaurismäki, Stieg Larsson, Leena Lehtolainen, Henning Mankell, Finnish cinema, Nordic cinema, and film authorship, among other topics. He is associate editor of the Journal of Scandinavian Cinema and review editor of Scandinavian Studies.