Babeth M. VanLoo

Arnold Schwarzenegger - The Art of Bodybuilding is a new work made by Babeth M. VanLoo in collaboration with Eye Filmmuseum, consisting of unprocessed, original 16mm material which she shot during the Mr. Olympia Bodybuilding contest in the 1970s. VanLoo filmed Arnold Schwarzenegger, then Mister Universe, around 1975/1976. In her art installation Sculpting the Body she presented him as a living work of art: some of the poses were reminiscent of Rodin’s The Thinker. This art installation is unfortunately lost, but the original recordings have been used for a new cut. In this new film we see footage of an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger by Raymond Mondini, recorded just after the Mr Olympia competition in 1976, combined with footage from the competition itself. Because the sound of the recording could not be synchronized with the image, the text of the interview has been visualized on screen.