BODY BUILDING BY ATELIER BIAGETTI IS THE “ANTI-GYM”

An exhibit that is 50% desirable design and 50% clever social commentary

Gym equipment can be an instrument of change or an instrument of torture. Sometimes it is both. Treadmills, exercise balls and weights become symbols of a larger obsession with improvement, control and unattainable perfection. But after months of disuse, they can also become symbols of our best intentions or even self-perceived failure. Body Building examines this cultural phenomenon in an exhibition curated by Maria Cristina Didero and presented at the studio space of Atelier Biagetti’s design couple Laura Baldassari and Alberto Biagetti.

Body Building turns familiar gym equipment into tailored, handcrafted design objects that are stripped of their original, sweaty purpose and reinvented with pony skin and beaver fur. It’s unimaginable to hurdle over a silver metallic pommel horse turned bench or swing from tube lights that resemble gymnastic rings. However, ironically, the objects have much more potential for use than much of the equipment that we tend to collect (and which in turn collects its fair share of dust). Simultaneously, the overtly aesthetic nature of the objects, the top quality materials and perfect finishes are a mirror of the body for which we aim – something flawless and eye-catchingly desirable.

The exhibition began running during Milan Design Week and will be on display through the end of the week.