Over the past decade or so, the self-help industry has made the leap from books to online with a rise in gymfluencing, wellness guru culture, and all sorts of coaching. Under the auspices of “becoming the best version of yourself”, there is an endless treadmill of influencers and online communities who are ready to teach you how to eat, work towards a passive income, and Svanasana your way to sure success. But who decides what the “best” is exactly? And are you being offered actual alternative paths to happiness and self-actualisation, or just newly enmeshed ways of conforming to the status quo?
With our second Symposihmm, we explore three areas of so-called self-optimisation: physical, financial, and spiritual. Expect deep dives and slow takes on looksmaxxing, the appropriation and commodification of wellness, hustlepreneurship, manifestation, and more.
Afternoon programme — 14:00 – 18:30
- 15:30 – 16:30, Sweat Equity, workout lecture by Riad Salameh (scroll for accessibility note)
- Sweat Equity is a 45-minute workshop that fuses physical exercise with economics. Participants are challenged to raise the stakes of their bodily motions through an immersive workout, connected to solicited donations for their collective efforts. All baddies are invited to treat their sweat as equity. Achieving our higher selves requires sacrifice and capital. That’s why we’re creating the newest currency: Sweat.
- 15:30 – 16:30, Our Dope Future reading session (content warning in accessibility note below)
- We’ll discuss Our Dope Future, a story from Tony Tulathimutte’s Rejection written in the form of a fictional Reddit / forum post by a homeschooled hustlepreneur who fumbled his relationship and sanity. Please note that we ask you to read the 26-page text in advance.
The rest of the afternoon programme consists of a talk by Fariha Róisín and another to be announced speaker.
The evening programme will feature talks and performances by Günseli Yalcinkaya, Eleni Maragkou, Ötza, and others. Full programme to be announced soon.
🎃 As this event takes place on Halloween, we encourage you to come dressed up as the best (or worst!) version of yourself!
📅 Date: Friday 31 October 2025
🕗 Time: 15.30 – 22.00 CET
📍 Location:
NDSM Theater, Scheepsbouwkade 4-6, Amsterdam, and online.
🎟 Tickets:
Various categories from €xxx to €xxx. Student and livestream tickets available ✨♿ Accessibility note [TO BE CONFIRMED BY NDSM THEATER]
The NDSM Theater is located on the ground floor. Unfortunately, there is no accessible toilet and the bar is located on the first floor. During the event we can provide live closed captioning for those with hearing impairments and disabilities. Please reach out to us if you are joining on-site and have this access need, so that we can reserve a seat for you within view of the screen with captions. If you are joining online via our livestream, live captioning will be available as one of the streaming modes.
The workout in Sweat Equity is accessible for anybody. The workout lecture will be performed at Crunch [information about gym accessibility TBC]
The story we’ll discuss in the reading group is about an all-round douchey white guy who starts a psychologically abusive relationship.
💪 The Best Version of Yourself is a full-day programme hosted by The Hmm, a platform for internet cultures, taking place at NDSM Theater and [gym TBC] on Friday 31 October 2025. Expect talks, performances, workshops, and more. This second-ever Symposihmm will dive into the intersecting worlds of physical optimisation, wellness culture, looksmaxxing, and hustle culture, how they manifest, and are perpetuated online. It is part of This is Who You’re Being Mean To, The Hmm’s broader 2025 year theme, exploring gender expression online.
