I posted recently about my challenges getting around and playing tourist in Rome. So much walking! So many stairs! No handrails! The heat!
But the thing I found hardest of all was standing. The art galleries we visited were their own kind of fitness challenge.
The Doria Pamphilj Palace and Gallery at least had one chair per room where I could sit (if a gallery guard wasn’t using it) to listen to the audio guide and look at art. Things were more challenging again in the Galleria Borghese. I found myself relieved that the tickets were timed and that we only had two hours in the gallery. Anyway, I loved it despite all the standing. Will definitely go back.
So standing is one kind of workout in a gallery. But what about an actual fitness class?
Would you workout in a gallery?
These guys did it in 2017. See here.
And now it’s happening again.
See Parisians warm up to the Olympics with workouts in the Louvre.
“Parisians warmed up for the coming Olympics with a series of workouts inside the renowned Louvre Museum on Wednesday, part of a programme to meld sports and culture as the French capital girds to host the Summer Games.
Participants took part in four 10-minute sessions of various disciplines dubbed “Run in the Louvre” in four emblematic rooms of the world’s most visited museum.
The project is one aspect of the Cultural Olympiad programme developed by the Paris 2024 organisers.
In the museum’s Cour (hall) Marly, which features French sculptures that adorned 17th-century King Louis XIV’s chateau in Marly, participants took part in a yoga lesson.
They then got a chance to learn dancehall, a Jamaican dance, amidst statues hailing back to the reign of ancient Assyrian King Sargon II in the Louvre’s Cour Khorsabad.”
See also Working Out — in a Museum. Not just any gallery or museum, the Louvre.
You can see video here: https://x.com/CGTNEurope/status/1783194193340375212?s=09
Closer to home (for me) the Art Gallery of Guelph occasionally hosts yoga!
What do you think? Yay or nay to gallery workouts?
I say “yay” to the idea. Why not work out in an environment elected by art? When nature is less bailable to elevate the spirit while working out, why not a gallery. Yoga and dancing feel more right than, say CrossFit, but even as I write that, I’m rethinking it. As for standing—even on a perfect physical health day, I find galleries and standing for long periods so hard on the body!
I say yay as well! Mixing the modes of athletic movement with observing art feels subversive and fun. It reminds me of spending the night at the YWCA or some other place (they have museum spend-the-nights); you’re somewhere at a time that’s not standard for an activity that isn’t standard for the place, and not even dressed for the place. We would benefit from these low-key transgressive delights. And I get tired standing around in museums, too, regardless of how good my shoes are…