ISC26 partners with Sauna Channel: A perfect match
We're excited to announce that Sauna Channel is joining the XIX International Sauna Congress this September in Oslo as an official partner.
The American production company has spent the last several years documenting sauna and bathing cultures around the world, and will now bring that work directly into the congress — screening films inside the Árdna sauna at SALT, premiering a new documentary about the Norwegian badstue boom, and producing a short film for the grand opening ceremony at Oslo City Hall.
The partnership is a natural fit. Sauna Channel grew out of Perfect Sweat, a 7-part documentary series hosted by Mikkel Aaland about sweat bathing traditions around the world, and the Norway episode — with Lasse Eriksen as guide — was one of the highlights of that series. The company has been following the Norwegian badstue scene closely ever since, and coming to Oslo this September is, in more than one sense, a homecoming.
"Sauna Channel has done more than almost anyone to bring the depth and diversity of global sauna culture to audiences around the world," says Lasse Eriksen, president of the Norwegian Sauna Society. Having them in Oslo producing, screening and celebrating alongside the congress delegates is, he says, what makes this feel like something truly special.
Greg Moga founded Sauna Channel on the conviction that the sauna has a unique power to connect people across cultures and generations. That's precisely why the International Sauna Congress felt like the right place to be.
"We want to contribute to this historic congress and help carry these unique stories out to an even wider audience," he says.
"A congress is always more than a programme, and this partnership is about the quality of the overall experience," says Stig Arild Pettersen, secretary general of the Norwegian Sauna Society and organiser of ISC26.
"Bringing Sauna Channel into this lifts the experience to another level — imagine watching a beautifully crafted film about the Norwegian badstue boom, inside one of the world's great communal saunas, with delegates from all over the world sweating together around you."
Samuel Aarnio, producer at Sauna Channel, has been watching the Norwegian badstue scene develop for years and describes it as one of the most dynamic things happening in the global sauna world right now. Coming to Norway to produce a new documentary for Sauna Channel is really exciting, he says.
“Filming sauna and bathing cultures across the globe, there has been one pattern that's become impossible to ignore: a successful sauna culture needs to understand its roots. Norway does this phenomenally,” says Aarnio.
That’s why the documentary under production will try to tell the history behind the current Norwegian sauna boom, from Viking wellness back in the Middle Ages, all the way up to present day’s urban, community-run saunas floating on the fjord and architectural gems on the top of steep mountainsides.
Screenings in Árdna will be announced as part of the congress programme. The world premiere of Sauna Channel's Norwegian badstue documentary will be a highlight event of ISC26, and further details on the grand opening at Oslo City Hall will be announced by the congress organisers shortly.
The XIX International Sauna Congress takes place in Oslo, 24th–26th September 2026, and will gather more than 500 sauna enthusiasts, practitioners, entrepreneurs, industry leaders and scientists from all over the world to share knowledge, inspiration and sweat.
Tickets are on sale now – so check out the program and get your ticket on saunacongress2026.org
See you in Oslo!
