Fitness-Studio

Ever since antiquity, notions of work and leisure form a pair of opposites in our minds. In various interiors, the Swiss artist duo L/B has carried the aesthetics of the fitness and leisure movement of the seventies and the nostalgic resurrection of the then-fashionable leisurewear to an excess, thereby playfully and wittily involving viewers in the question of what it actually means when your old sweats suddenly turn into fashion-items? And which is the relationship of the old opposites to each other today? L/B’s contribution to the Biennale was based on the further development of an actually existing structure: some time earlier, a group of adolescents had begun with setting up their own fitness-room in a small space of the building which also houses the youth center, the gymnasium and the bowling alley. After a short period, the project was abandoned. L/B picked up on the situation at hand and suggested a complete make-over and renovation of the room. The ramshackle equipment was repaired and the room was up-graded by colourful wall-designs, mirrors, plants and a console holding stereo equipment. After the biennale, the fitness-room was given to the local residents.

The project picked up on life-style-transfer between urban to rural areas and at the same time presented a very practical follow-up on the project begun by the local youths.