SOAK brings Iceland’s 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale project to New York
What can bathing culture teach us about designing for belonging? On Friday, October 2, from 4–6 PM, the team behind Iceland’s Pavilion at the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale will bring SOAK: The Radical Act of Bathing Together to Scandinavia House in New York for a conversation with architects, designers, authors and thinkers as part of Taste of Iceland.
The event brings together Marcos Zotes, partner at Basalt Architects and curator of SOAK; Christie Pearson, architect, artist and author of The Architecture of Bathing; Kristín Eva Ólafsdóttir, CEO of Gagarín and member of the SOAK team; and Miodrag Mitrašinović, architect, urbanist, author and Professor at Parsons School of Design.
The discussion will be moderated by Icelandic writer and documentary filmmaker Andri Snær Magnason, and Svanhildur Hólm Valsdóttir, Iceland’s Ambassador to the United States, will open the event.
Together, the speakers will discuss architecture, bathing culture and community, exploring what lcelandic bathing culture might offer architects and urbanists working with questions of public life, connection and belonging today.
The New York event provides an early opportunity to engage with the ideas behind SOAK ahead of its presentation at the 20th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 2027. The pavilion is curated by Marcos Zotes and developed by a multidisciplinary team from Basalt Architects, Gagarín and artist Rán Flygenring.
The event forms part of Taste of Iceland New York, taking place October 1–3 with a programme of Icelandic culture, music, food, design and storytelling across the city.
SOAK: The Radical Act of Bathing Together
Friday, October 2, 2026
4–6 PM
Scandinavia House
58 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Admission is free, but tickets are limited.
