It's easy to laugh at the absurdity of bodybuilders. It's easy to call them unaware, to hottake that most of them are living out control-obsessed eating disorders. But many of us say that without confronting the control within ourselves. PUMP mirrors the messages we absorb online today: that through control, routine, and discipline, we can secure emotional safety, self-worth, and acceptance.

PUMP is the latest project from artist Alannah Cyan—a fictional 1978 bodybuilding magazine combining original photography, writing, and graphic design.

A reflection on control, discipline, and the quiet desperation that lives in many of us. Cyan uses the obsessive, cult-like lens of a 1970s bodybuilding magazine as a broader metaphor for the pursuit of emotional safety through disciplined routines and self-control.

Both surreal and sincere, PUMP is a fantasy of transformation, restraint, and the desire to become someone else. Structured around Dante’s Divine Comedy, it moves from Inferno to Paradiso through fictional ads, invented interviews, and an endless pressure to buy imagined supplements.

What begins as a parody slowly reveals itself as a devotional text to self-optimisation—not just of the body, but to the illusion of safety it promises. Come join us at the launch, where you can get your own copy of PUMP!

DRESS CODE: The year 1978