THE HAPPY BENE
a film by Tao Wells and Dick Whyte
A film by Dick Whyte and Tao Wells documenting the Wells Group operation; "The Beneficiary's Office".
"What you did Tao, I thought, was incredibly courageous and profound... To be both dependent on that system and to so publicly expose the issues around that system was very brave... to be a public beneficiary that's about as bad as it gets. " (Chris Kraus)
"You actually have to ask the question frankly should Creative New Zealand actually exist if this is what they do." (Roger Douglas, New Zealand MP)
"A vacant commercial space is a site of anxiety, more so than a vacant dwelling. If it happens to include a shop front, its emptiness becomes a concrete representation of crisis. An empty shop on the corner can bring down the whole neighbourhood. We use phrases like that: to bring down, to depress, as if to reify the mood. The Letting Space projects are partly a response to the anxiety, a way of replacing those conspicuous absences with another sort of activity, another kind of trade. But what of the empty office on the sixth floor of an otherwise bustling building? What of the emptiness of the spaces that we cannot see?
That Tao Wells' Beneficiary's Office occupied such a space is one of the least commented on aspects of this intensely debated project, yet it fitted in perfectly with the subject matter. Being unemployed means being less visible, having less of a voice, keeping or being made to keep a lower profile. And so Wells and the curators chose an empty office on the sixth floor of a downtown Wellington building, upstairs from a branch of the Bank of New Zealand. Below, the engine room of commerce; above, an interrogation of the nature and the value of work. Choosing for the first time in the series not to occupy a shop also meant a shift in the terms of implicit comparison, for business has a far broader set of meanings than retail, and these would quickly come into play." (Giovanni Tiso, read more: lettingspace.org.nz/essay-the-beneficiarys-office/)"
There are so many awesome points considered in this film by Tao Wells and Dick Whyte. They talk about the happiness of workers, making their way up the chain day after day in the towers of our cities. They talk about "getting people involved in the direction of society" and the up-side to unemployment. This contemporary art project was designed to spark debate, and that's exactly what it did. The film itself is bare in aesthetic, but it's worth every moment of watching and incredibly interesting and thought provoking not just about economics and politics, but about our country and our people. I think about my partner sitting up in PWC everyday, coming home with sore hands and a sore back, starting at 8:30am and finishing sometimes at 11pm or 12. The people at the bottom, like my partner are kept unhappy so they strive for the top, and is even any peace there?
Tao questions us as artists and how we are supposed to live and work and think and be. Are we "neutered"? Are we "trained like obedient dogs"?
At 34:00, we hear Tao doing an interview on Radio One (Nov. 6, 2010) talking about art and artists in this time. If anything, check this out.
