Tomorrow is another day of wants and needs
TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY OF WANTS AND NEEDS
A physical concert performance which explores new ways of how to connect and
communicate with one another. It introduces a new “language” that includes physical
action, strange primal sounds and screams, all of which may help us free ourselves
from our everyday routine.
The performance is partly inspired by public relations pioneer Eddie Bernays,
Sigmund Freud’s nephew and author of some of the 20 th century’s most influential
books on herd instinct and crowd psychology. Bernays’ work coincided with the first
publications by the Frankfurt School. While the sociologists and philosophers had a
rather negative perspective on human behaviour, criticising and warning against
irrational thinking and capitalism, Bernays was interested in the real chaos of human
existence and nature itself. He maintained that in order to achieve the happiness we
dream of, most of us are bound to consume. But we don't necessarily know what we
want, so we’re more at ease with having someone choose for us what we might
need. Today we seem to have mastered this by allowing relentless algorithms to tell
us what to believe in, what to listen to, what to fear and what to enjoy. The outcome
is a sheer endless feedback of negative analysis and criticism which - in contrast to
the teachings of the Frankfurt School - does not bring down capitalism. Where do we
go from this moment in time where truth and fact have become debatable, language
is constantly taking on a different meaning and memes have cornered humans into
being either right or wrong? Is it still enough to think our way through things, in the
spirit of the Frankfurt School? Or do we maybe have to respond and act on our
thinking?
Maybe. We don’t pretend to know what people want, what they need. Will people in
the auditorium be thinking about what to cook? Whether they should ask for a
refund? Will they think that they don’t belong to this particular crowd and that the
evening would be better spent in front of the computer, watching new, interactive
reality series on Netflix where you dive in to the exciting life of tax consultants with
the aid of your smart device and a copy of Atlas Shrugged? We don’t know. All we
know is that we’re looking for a more connected audience. People ready to embrace
the idea of chaos. Tomorrow is another day of unfulfilled wants and needs that will
grow in numbers if you let them. Let’s keep it simple, let’s take time to simply exist
and enjoy the ride.