Synopsis

 

The Dew Point is a documentary performance exploring the ambiguous value of security in times of war and militarization. At the heart of the project lies artist Kristina Norman’s personal process of renovating a Soviet-era sauna in the Estonian countryside with her father, who was a conscript in the Soviet army in 1977-1978. Combining video documentation of the construction process with a retelling of her father’s stories through a live performer, the performance opens up the liminal experience in the Baltic region, both mental and physical, in which the dew point marks a potential moment of poetic transformation.

 

Audience experience

 

The Dew Point is a poetic documentary lecture‑performance that weaves archival and documentary footage with live work by two female performers. Rooted in the material repair of the artist’s family sauna — renovated with her father on their Estonian countryside property — the lecture unfolds research into the militarised history of modern Estonian sauna culture. The cottage, sauna, garden and neighbours become a microcosm reflecting wider societal shifts, notably rapid militarisation amid the war in Ukraine. The intimate storytelling incorporates non‑human agents — birches, death‑watch beetles and invasive slugs — to suggest a persistent hybrid state of conflict. The work combines filmed testimony with a live collaborator: Katrin Essenson physically evokes the father’s presence, choreographing her responses in silence. Re‑voicing the father’s accounts in the second person and through a female body converts traumatic lived memory into family lore and post‑memory, reframing militarised masculinity by centring female protagonists and testimony.

 

Information on tours and performances:
https://saal.ee/en/performance/the-dew-point-2006/

 

Credits

 

Author, performer: Kristina Norman
Performer: Katrin Essenson
Dramaturges: Katharina Joy Book (GER/USA), Oliver Issak

Assisting director: Meelis Muhu
Assistant researcher: Minna Henriksson (FIN)
Soundscape, scenography, graphic design: Raul Keller
Video live operator: Erik Norkroos
Video: Erik Norkroos (camera), Meelis Muhu (camera / video editing), Danek Kaunissaare (sound post production)

Personal contributions: Aleksei Zaitsev, Priit Orav

Light design: Heikki Paasonen / Kiasma Theatre (FIN)

Technical solutions and support: Kalle Tikas

Texts in English edited by Klaire Kolmann
Subtitles: Tom Karik

 

Production: Annika Üprus, Kaie Küünal / Kanuti Gildi SAAL
Co-producers: Baltic Circle festival (Helsinki), Kanuti Gildi SAAL (Tallinn), Barents Spektakel festival / Pikene pa Broen (Kirkenes)
Supporters: Nordic Culture Point, Gwaertler Stiftung, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Ministry of Culture of Estonia
With thanks to: Lauri Lemming, Maarja Kalmre, Eda Kalmre, Joosep Orav, Linda Kaljundi, Siim Õismaa (Estonian War Museum)
Residency support: Copper Leg Art Residency
Premiere: November 28, 2025 at Baltic Circle festival in Kiasma Theatre