- Installation
- Interdisciplinary Project
- Public Art
The Delivery Workers
Debarun Dutta, Shriraj Sagara, Shehzil Malik
3 July 2026 19:00–22:00
4 July 2026 12:00–22:00
5 July 2026 12:00–22:00
Europe, as it transforms demographically, is in need of a younger workforce sourced from non-EU countries as labour migrants. Many of them are forced to earn their living through precarious and unregulated jobs like food delivery work. The extent of worker insecurity and the structural factors that contribute to the marginalisation of workers is unnoticed, and remains of little importance to German politics. In Berlin, delivery riders embody this paradox: essential for urban ease, yet dismissed as disposable and a source of irritation.
Debarun Dutta has been invested in uncovering the day to day realities, working conditions and systemic marginalisation of the South Asian food delivery workers in Berlin. This has culminated in a documentary film, ‘The Delivery Guy’ in collaboration with Shriraj Sagara (sound design and musical score), and Shehzil Malik (illustration).
Our new project, “The Delivery Workers” aims to explore the lives of this migrant community and expands these narratives. The installation, through sound, video footage and graphic reportage, highlights the lives of migrant workers, offering Berliners new ways of engaging with and understanding realities that exist around them. We intend the work to compel the viewers to start seeing delivery riders as individuals who deserve dignity, compassion and basic rights. The audience is invited into the lives of the protagonists to ask, What dreams ignited their departure from home, propelling them to forge new ones here? Do they cherish the journey that reshaped them? And in what subtle, profound ways do they weave connections to these unfamiliar places and people? And amidst the daily grind, do they ever feel invisible or unrecognized; erased by indifferent glances or bureaucratic shadows?
Debarun Dutta has been invested in uncovering the day to day realities, working conditions and systemic marginalisation of the South Asian food delivery workers in Berlin. This has culminated in a documentary film, ‘The Delivery Guy’ in collaboration with Shriraj Sagara (sound design and musical score), and Shehzil Malik (illustration).
Our new project, “The Delivery Workers” aims to explore the lives of this migrant community and expands these narratives. The installation, through sound, video footage and graphic reportage, highlights the lives of migrant workers, offering Berliners new ways of engaging with and understanding realities that exist around them. We intend the work to compel the viewers to start seeing delivery riders as individuals who deserve dignity, compassion and basic rights. The audience is invited into the lives of the protagonists to ask, What dreams ignited their departure from home, propelling them to forge new ones here? Do they cherish the journey that reshaped them? And in what subtle, profound ways do they weave connections to these unfamiliar places and people? And amidst the daily grind, do they ever feel invisible or unrecognized; erased by indifferent glances or bureaucratic shadows?
Biography
Debarun Dutta, Shriraj Sagara, Shehzil Malik
Debarun is a human rights filmmaker who has spent over 15 years working in the grassroots in India and has made over 50 documentary and short fiction films. He has a Masters in Public Policy and works as a filmmaker and researcher on the concerns of South Asian migrant workers in Berlin.
Shehzil Malik is a Pakistani visual artist who focuses on human rights and feminism through illustration, street art, publications and the internet. She was a Fellow of the Universität der Künste Berlin and is also a Fulbright scholar.
Shriraj Sagara is a musician and artist from Berlin. Shriraj’s interest lies in combining organised and unorganised sound to address themes of alienation, personal and environmental anxiety and otherness.
Shehzil Malik is a Pakistani visual artist who focuses on human rights and feminism through illustration, street art, publications and the internet. She was a Fellow of the Universität der Künste Berlin and is also a Fulbright scholar.
Shriraj Sagara is a musician and artist from Berlin. Shriraj’s interest lies in combining organised and unorganised sound to address themes of alienation, personal and environmental anxiety and otherness.
The next 9 events today