The Endless Loop: Jeroen Kooijmans “Work” Depicts The Cycles of Modern Life
Written by Ade Olusola Kunmi
Jeroen Kooijmans’ video artwork titled Work is an arresting and thought-provoking piece that captures the essence of modern societal structures through a mesmerizing, cyclical visual metaphor. In the video, three men dressed in identical uniforms are shown engaged in a repetitive task—digging from one hole and filling another man’s hole, endlessly. The choreography of their actions, forming a perpetual loop, immediately draws the viewer into its hypnotic rhythm, but beneath this surface simplicity lies a deeper reflection on the realities of the world we inhabit.
Work is a striking commentary on how modern life has become an almost mechanical routine, where individuals unknowingly participate in systems that sustain each other. The men, uniformed and indistinguishable, symbolize how people, regardless of their role in society, are locked in this pattern—working not just for themselves but for the benefit of others. Kooijmans’ choice to present this through a repetitive, almost futile task highlights the idea that while we work diligently, we often don’t see the bigger picture of where our efforts are directed.
The brilliance of Kooijmans’ work is how it mirrors the interconnectedness of different people and professions in real life. The video subtly illustrates how a factory worker, for instance, labors to earn money to pay his rent. His landlord then uses that rent to cover his car payments, while the car company funnels the money into paying staff salaries. The staff, in turn, might use their earnings to settle medical bills, while the doctor who treats them uses his income to pay for his child’s education. This cyclical flow of money, labor, and resources is an endless loop—each individual contributing to and sustaining the needs of another. In this way, we are all part of a larger, unseen machine where one pocket constantly feeds the other.
What makes Work so powerful is Kooijmans’ ability to express this complex, almost invisible system through a simple, elegant visual. The continuous loop of the men’s actions emphasizes how society functions on this shared, reciprocal structure, where everyone is part of the same engine, working to keep the wheels of the modern world turning. Through this piece, the artist makes us question the very nature of the work we do and our roles within this system.
Kooijmans’ art opens our eyes to the subtle reality that while we may think of ourselves as individuals, we are in fact all interconnected cogs in a machine, performing tasks that sustain the livelihoods of others. The work resonates with the realization that no matter what role we play, we are contributing to a cycle that is larger than ourselves. By using a simple loop of action, Kooijmans captures the essence of the modern human condition: that we are all involved in a continuous exchange of effort and value, part of an inescapable loop that defines the structure of the world we live in.
Work is not just a visual masterpiece but a profound social critique, revealing the cyclical and interdependent nature of life in the modern age. It speaks to the underlying truth of how society is built, how each person’s efforts are used to sustain others, and how we are all, knowingly or not, participants in this vast and intricate system.
