A Flinnworks production, premiered at Sophiensäle Berlin in May 2015. Music by Andi Otto.
The Flinnworks collectiv went to Dhaka to sew T-shirts, they inhaled fuzz, and navigated their way through strikes and cocktail bombs, tracing the people who make our clothes. Why would you rather earn 30 than 50 dollars a month, Naila? Do you see the naked woman on the T-shirt you are sewing, Shilpi? What does it mean to work in a compliance factory, Mumtaz?
Songs of the T-shirt is a theatrical wandering through the global textile industry, between emancipation and exploitation, market and intimacy, Bengali mourning songs and upcycling fashion. Interviews will be reenacted, and consumption options played with, while clothes are continuously changed, following the question of whether it is morally wrong or necessary to buy a T-shirt 'Made in Bangladesh'.
Andi Otto applies vocoder technology to the sewing machines on stage and the machines "sing" whenever they are operated.
"Songs of the T-Shirt" research #01
Flinn Works research for the project "Songs of the T-Shirt". #01 in the textile factory.