"Should I be on wealthy peoples welfare, through the buying of my work? How do I make work as a an artist if I want poor people to buy my work? (Laughs) Extreme divisions right there, so how do I perpetuate myself if I want to make Democratic art? What is Democratic Art? These are the kinds of issues that I feel my work is trying to articulate and present a picture of. If we look at inflation going up right now because (among other things) low numbers of unemployed people, should we be actually celebrating 6% unemployment as a way of saving us money? New Zealand uses a permanent base of 6% unemployment to keep inflation down, by forcing low wages, by having this massive pool of unemployed people. That's a hard thing to hear, but we can see the evidence that once that pool gets smaller, then inflation goes up. So that's a different idea about looking at welfare, instead of being a punishment it's actually something that might be necessary, and needed to be approached from a different angle." - Madness, Economics and Art, Tao Wells.

 

Tao Wells Audio · OAr Fm Interview Friday 8 April 22