hassled by WINZ via TV3 for actually having a paying gig, and things have gotten worse
An unemployed artist has used taxpayers' money to advocate...
3 News
- Puck Murphy, Rosie Horsley, Darren Kemp and 32 others like this.
Barry Thomas So the lesson is... the oligarchy and its patsy media do not like poor people saying they are poor and loathe work they loathe... as art and - god forbid - have the taxpayer pay for the privilege! So rich artists CAN say these things? If one takes away the two key elements... that you were on the dole and publicly funded... it's likely the media would have not said a damned thing. 'Bene off' is a great work, most likely because it magnetised the three issues into the nexus... art funding, freedom of expression and poverty plus of course the huge issue... people do have the right to work at what they choose... basic human right and in itself a subset of freedom of expression.
- Wells Tao this is also pretty good http://www.drachenwerk.at/rice.../riceandbeans/lauratao.html
The 6% Forced Unemployment ghost in the room\ www.drachenwerk.atartist run project space, 2nd floor, allbell chambers, 127 lower stuart street, dunedin - Wells Tao Tao received a lot of publicity about the show as soon as the show started; in fact the paper printed its first controversial article the day of the opening and by that night WINZ had called Tao to let him know that his benefit had been suspended. I received no such phone call but apparently mine had been too. This was to set the tone for how I was treated by WINZ, I was not informed of anything - I had to learn about these injustices through Tao and I was not invited to any meetings. Turns out this was how the newspaper wanted it too - when Tao and I did a Labour day parade to fight for job satisfaction we did a press release to the Dominion stating both of our names, but they printed it "Tao Wells and Friend".
- Wells Tao Once the show was over and we both had had our benefits re-instated we both headed back to New Plymouth, to do two things - To pack up our house as we could no longer afford it and attend WINZ meetings which had been scheduled for us.
Turns out for the first time they wanted me to attend these meetings even though I had up until now been ignored as a de-facto female afterthought. These meetings were actually group meetings as part of the new 'work-testing' programme. These meetings were supposed to scare us into action. People who are being work tested have to attend these once a week - Tao and I had to go in every day - Tao was being work tested, I however was not. This form of psychological terror that they pounded on to us was nothing in comparison to the media; this was torture complete with video cameras and security guards. We had to watch everything we said as it could have easily been used against us. Tao spent most of the meetings trying to create an uprising from the others who were just as aware of the wrongness of this treatment. Every day the programme leader would ask us what we had done to look for work since the last time she saw us and we would have to always have a new answer. I would spend most of my time outside of the meetings trying to think of answers for them rather than looking for work. - Barry Thomas Strange you are writing as Wells Tao here - so it gets a little confusing reading it knowing who is who??? But yes I 100% understand all of what they did to you both and that's WINZ, CNZ, media - because I have had very similar treatment... the rule here is quite simple... there's one law for people who have means and a very different one for those with sweet FA. S o when you test the system and shine a light on its deficiencies... they pull the secret draw open and retrieve a handgun called - 'now you gunna pay fucker' then they pull the trigger.
Same story with Dot com - if the cage of the big guys is rattled they become snakes... law become irrelevant... the animal rears its ugly fangs and bites. That's the way it is. So again good on you both for pulling off this remarkable work of art... You see for me... all art is a test... I call it a Gant... - from the french Jetter le Gant'... throwing down the glove of challenge. From simple words on a page to Demoiselles D'Avignon to Urinal the same process applies... change is affected by 1. seeing the contradiction then 2. taking action. Wells done hahahaha. and - in the afterlife of post challenge beat ups we have to console ourselves that we did good... yous did bloody good and don't forget - many of us respect and hold dear to the faith in truths you exposed and art you made... make more - Wells Tao I've got a truck more, just stuck on the delivery. No willing ports. About to go AWOL, could be fun. Got to be sensitive now, get it right.. get the order of things
- Wells Tao got in a few choice morsels, like "if jobs are a form of punishment, then what we are all contributing to is a giant prison" , crazy thought crunchers like that
- Wells Tao took two years of therapy (so Far) to recover somewhat.. but then again I probably needed it anyway
Wells Tao This is the Antidote to that TV3 piece, some actual journalism http://vimeo.com/16009482
Wells Group is a PR Company created by artist Tao Wells (seen here in interview)... See More
Kenneth Crawford · 8 mutual friendsI noticed that the Minister was preparing her CV in time for this election.
Martin Rumsby Every person who remains unemployed creates a job opening for another beneficiary. We don't want to set beneficiaries one against the other competing for the same jobs. Competition is what put us in the mess of work, career, financial meltdowns etc in the first place. Wells needs to be commended for his selfless sense of communality.
Nykk Mhaaliis Rex · 2 mutual friendsfucken chur bro on to it!- Nykk Mhaaliis Rex · 2 mutual friendsalso step up to the plate competition gave us civilisation
Quinn Wilkins I loved that project (despite inevitable media befuddlement) as soon as I heard about it. People need to think about what unemployment is, and what employment is. Employment is not necessarily serving society (there are plenty of jobs that could be argued are doing society a disservice but somehow manage to gain revenue flow as well as plenty of unemployed people who contribute quite a lot to their communities and/or society as a whole). Not everyone on the dole is a car stereo thief on meth as Mr Banks would have us believe.- Kenneth Crawford · 8 mutual friendsUnemployment plays a major role in limiting consumption and helps to control inflation. That is to deal with the rational part of my brain. The benefits to society from art are considerable and various art works are something people look back on, not how many burgers people flipped.
Tineke Marriner · Friends with David Small and 2 othersi don't understand societies need to validate human existence with employment. the idea that being in a dead end job (which most are really, unless you're $30,000+ in debt to get a piece of paper saying you qualify for a certain job) that pays $13.50 in exchange for an hour of your life (you can do alot in an hour) is more positive than people who dont want to work because they want to devote their time to other things that they feel contribute to society more than flipping burgers at mc donalds.
what this man is doing is self aware, he is breaking the mould, he is opening people to new ideas. that in itself is more effective than the man who has been stocking k-mart shelves for nearly twenty years.- Nykk Mhaaliis Rex · 2 mutual friendsyeah i dont get how a man who makes some other cunt a million bucks a year and gets 30k for himself is worthy of any respect at all, worse than any dero. tools the lot of em
Paul Gilbert · Friends with Rob Mayes and 5 othersWow being unemployed means sharing wealth! Whose wealth are we sharing again? This economic enlightenment comes hard on the heels of The Greens recent policy announcement that taxing people will make us all rich. I’m obviously not conceptual enough to grasp how all this works.
- Quinn Wilkins That explains it, I was thinking it weird that that guy liked my post when his opinion is almost polar opposite...
- Wells Tao I encourage contrary views, especially those that are looking to have their assumptions challenged. As Paul Gilbert clearly is.
- Wells Tao Paul Gilbert I welcome you to have a google on my work, and fire away any question you may have. I am happy to spend a little time (money) on you.
- Quinn Wilkins I don't think he actually looked at the link, otherwise he'd realise how long ago the project happened, or at least this made me think so "This economic enlightenment comes hard on the heels of The Greens recent policy announcement"
- Nykk Mhaaliis Rex · 2 mutual friendsWells tao how much is your time worth mate hahaha
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