by Sumugan Sivanesan // Sept. 24, 2024
After the performance of ‘The Melancholic Melody of the New Economy’ at Ballhaus Naunynstraße, first-time director Ariel William Orah told an appreciative audience that 13 years ago, as a young migrant from Indonesia, he worked in Berlin’s then-burgeoning tech industry. Chatting later in the courtyard bar, Orah discussed scouring the migrant community channels where such jobs are posted to find the performers for his “musical-documentary theatre.” Rather than audition for roles, Orah interviewed whomever expressed interest and invited those willing to commit to the intense six-week development period to join. Despite working in Berlin’s so-called “creative industries,” the five participants of ‘The Melancholic Melody’ were eager to express themselves.
Eri Dürr, Tyz Juny, Pwincess Pweach, Babyj and Arie Rids moved in recent years from South and Southeast Asia. Arriving on stage they wore fashionably cut clothes of a uniform charcoal-coloured, tie-dyed fabric. Each wore designer shoes and colourful socks, suggestive of their personalities. Prompting the crowd to recall the apps they use daily, the ensemble presented themselves as the “people behind the apps.” The performance proceeded after they announced two framing questions: “What keeps us in Berlin?” and “Where do we go from here?”
Ariel William Orah: ‘The Melancholic Melody of the New Economy,’ 2024, performance views // Photo by Zé de Paiva
The set design of the performance consisted of modular office furniture cast in pastel hues. The scenography also referenced the pink pipes that twist and turn throughout Berlin, pumping up ground water from the city’s swampland foundations. A wide, curved screen behind was used for projections and the lighting design also contributed to the staged architecture. A recurring motif was the group meeting in the lobby of their office building and the act of squeezing into an elevator together, signalled by a rectangular shaft of light projected onto the floor. These choreographed interactions rendered them as caricatures of their professional profiles, and the narrative unfolded as interactive anecdotes of their experiences working for firms that develop food delivery services, music streaming platforms and dating apps.
Their initial enthusiasm for corporate culture was gleefully recounted as job perks: free coffee, snacks and company lunches accompany the pragmatic benefits of stable work and “papers” (residence permits). Coming from places with compromised economies and fewer pathways to professionalisation, we learn that a job in Europe signalled their arrival as “Global Citizens”; alluding to a degree of mobility, economic power and liberal lifestyles that Europeans assume.
While not a song-and-dance production, ‘The Melancholic Melody’ drew on a musical bag of tricks. Rope stretched across storage boxes was plucked, transforming office equipment into ad-hoc musical instruments, as bottles and computer keyboards were percussively struck. Segueing between scenes, the group would break into a chant of “do-do-do…”, never making it to “re-mi-fa-so-la-ti.” They offer insights into the tech scene: the frustration of having to pre-book limited places in a hot-desk office, the daily routine of sprint plannings and stand-up and all-hands meetings. At lunch, the group sits together, bound by their preference for rice over the salad that their colleagues consume. We learn about their roles: a UX/UI designer, a marketing strategist, a coder and a “foul analyser,” whose job is to find out how laypeople hack their systems.
Ariel William Orah: ‘The Melancholic Melody of the New Economy,’ 2024, performance views // Photo by Zé de Paiva
Their initial enthusiasm wanes, as our young protagonists find themselves overworked, frustrated by bad agreements and vulnerable to their employers’ “fouling” of German labour laws. Dubious practices are common as companies compete to recruit “foreign talent” and secure investor billions. The issue of class is raised when the group discusses delivery riders—the foot soldiers of the New Economy—many of whom are migrant workers who share their homelands. While Eri, Tyz, Pwincess Pweach, Babyj and Arie are valued as “professionals,” riders are treated as dispensable “unskilled” workers. One poignant scene finds them at a club that a start-up has booked out to celebrate a billion dollar investment, making it a “Unicorn.” Dancing to techno music and “snorting things on the dance floor,” the group live the Berlin dream, while riders are laid off as the company seeks to become profitable. The coder laments a rider losing his livelihood, the consequence of a minor coding error, reflecting on prevailing hierarchies and inequalities.
Intergenerational effects of colonial oppression are voiced as challenges to be overcome, as are humble family circumstances. One performer emphasises their drive to succeed despite not having a university degree, another shares how they hacked a visa restriction to study. Aside from career ambitions, they divulge their responsibilities as breadwinners, supporting families “back home.” While hard work, cunning and material success have made them role-models for their younger relatives and peers, pride is accompanied by a persistent fear of failure and shame if one loses their job or becomes disillusioned.
‘The Melancholic Melody of the New Economy’ presented an entertaining glimpse into Berlin’s “flagship” industry. Eri, Tyz, Pwincess Pweach, Babyj and Arie’s amateur performances are endearing and authentic. As someone who came to Berlin for cultural opportunities and also claims a South Asian heritage, I could empathise with some of their struggles, while corporate life is for me an alternate reality. Today, Berlin’s reputation as a creative capital is misleading: the era of social experimentation and urban play facilitated by cheap rents has dissipated. In the early 2000s, I remember friends opting to move to Berlin precisely because they did not want to work and could rather focus on creative pursuits. Perhaps, then, the pointy end of Orah’s musical-theatre critique is the very thing that brought its protagonists to Berlin? It implies their complicity with the so-called “New Economy,” as it gallops alongside the pace of gentrification, the privatization of open space and the erosion of free time.
Exhibition Info
Ballhaus Naunynstraße
Ariel William Orah: ‘The Melancholic Melody of the New Economy’
Performance: Sept. 6-10, 2024
ballhausnaunynstrasse.de
Naunynstraße 27, 10997 Berlin, click here for map
