Mainstream

"I look for the things that bring us together, the things that make us human. What we all have in common." Ariane Loze, 2022.

In Mainstream, Ariane Loze casts a sharp but sympathetic eye on the world we live in. As in her other videos, she inhabits the roles of different characters. Using her voice, gestures and body, she plays a group of people having a conversation around a table. Managers and CEOs waxing lyrical about the different companies they run. Their hollow words are strung together to the point of absurdity, feeling strange and alienating.

Being notably fast-paced, Mainstream reflects our relationship with time. In a hyper-productive society, everything revolves around maximum efficiency. Managers and employees must adapt to ever tighter schedules in an increasingly globalised world. How about wellbeing in the workplace? Should it also yield a return? And does being happy make you more productive? This last question refers to a cover of Management magazine, a publication that provided inspiration for the characters in the film.

Mainstream is part of a series of videos Loze made independently. Each video is closely linked to its setting and experiments with different film codes and genres, from film noir to science fiction. In this way, the artist takes a critical look at how our social lives are structured.