Artist says he's the man for Paul Henry role
The artist advocating unemployment is using his newfound notoriety to plump for axed Breakfast host Paul Henry's job.
Wellington beneficiary Tao Wells, 37, sparked controversy – and a heated reaction from Dominion Post readers – when it was revealed he was setting up a taxpayer-funded "beneficiaries' office" to promote the virtues of being unemployed.
Creative NZ provided a $3,500 grant for the Manners St office, which is open to the public for at least two weeks from today as part of the Letting Space public art series. The Beneficiary's Office urges people to forsake jobs they don't like rather than endure eight hours of "slavery".
Wells' benefit has since been suspended as Work and Income investigates him for receiving income above the maximum allowable as a result of the grants – something that he denies. He said it was an "absolute lie" to suggest he benefited personally from the Creative NZ funding, as it all went to the Wells Group, of which he is the director. He admitted the funding let him and five colleagues work on the exhibition.
Wells said the anger prompted by his argument was a response to the issues he raised, not an attack on him. "The anger is very real and it's not about me. It's about feeling ripped off – we are collectively being ripped off."
He disagreed that beneficiaries were getting paid for "doing nothing". "Everyone who is alive works to live. Now what is that work? Is it just purely financial? It can't be – we all rip off our jobs, we all participate in other things that we're not supposed to at work.
"If we didn't, society in itself would collapse. If we didn't notice our neighbour, if we didn't say hello, if we didn't do the extra things – I feel ridiculous even having to make those points but this is the state of things."
He was not advocating for people living off the state but "living for the state". However, he did not have any ideas on how this would be achieved, admitting "we're making this up as we go".
When asked what he'd learnt from the experience, he said: "That I want Paul Henry's job. I'm outspoken, I'm not afraid to speak my mind, not politically correct – and if all those people thought that that was important about Paul Henry, then they should feel the same way about me. And I am unemployed."
An earlier version of this story said the Beneficiaries Office art programme, Letting Space, received $40,000 from Creative New Zealand. In fact, it was only given a total of $3,500.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4242452/Artist-says-hes-the-man-for-Paul-Henry-role
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