Pim Groothuis

A Good Day To Sweat, Lift, Burn, Repeat

Fitness has become one of the most prominent trends of the past decade. It has evolved from a niche sports hobby into a global lifestyle trend, mostly being dominated by masculine ideologies. My Body Is A Temple explores our relationship with fitness and how blood, sweat and tears have become symbols of glorification.

Something I really enjoy is thinking of trends and phenomena that keep our generation busy. Things such as the manosphere or yuppie wellness culture keep amusing me. I feel like they are very fruitful sources. I like to shed light on those fruits, preferably in an exaggerated way. That’s a good day for me.

My Body Is A Temple  explores our relationship with fitness, highlighting its autosoteric (self-saving) and hypermasculine character. Through different artefacts, the project frames fitness as a new form of secular religious practice and critically highlights how the gym evolves into a place of seeking higher purpose, especially in a time where traditional norms of masculinity are shifting and counter-cultures such as the Manosphere emerge. Sweat and fat become symbols of sacrifice, and exercise becomes a form of salvation. These symbols are translated into artefacts from a mystical fitness cult: a candle made of animal fat symbolizing a prosperous calorie-burning process; a fitness-mat tapestry depicting an entity that is pure muscle; an altar meant for sweat offerings, that evaporates even a single drop of sweat; and a kettlebell incense burner to ward off any type of contamination from your body.