Tao Wells is a New Zealand Artist and a voluntary community conceptualist, whose work is known for its critiques of established systems of power and value.
His 2010 work "The Beneficiary's Office" was managed by his creation of a 'Public Public Relations' organization called "Wells Group". The performance was part of a larger series of temporary projects curated by Letting Space in Wellington. "The Beneficiary's Office" was controversial in its promotion of the opportunities and benefits of unemployment in an effort to criticize contemporary ideas of work.
"We need to work less, so we consume less. The average carbon footprint of the unemployed person is about half of those earning over $100,000", "We should never be forced to take a job. If you're forced to take a job it's a punishment. If a job is a punishment then all we are building as a society, is a prison".
"I believe that, the true artists of our times, are the politicians and PR companies and the Lobby groups, that are creating the frames, for how we interpret reality."
The initial media coverage incorrectly reported that he received funding of $40,000 for the art project. Creative New Zealand released a clarification, stating that the total amount for Wells' show was actually $3,500. As a result of the media coverage, he had his benefit cancelled by Work and Income, with Wells and a welfare advocate questioning the illegality of WINZ's decision, it was reinstated. American writerChris Kraus compared the Wells Group project with the concerns of French philosopherSimone Weil and the Italian NO WORK "Movement of 77'.
"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. "
Writing by Wells has appeared numerous times in the magazine White Fungus. In 2018, Easier –a 72 glossy retrospective of his work – was published by the Govett-Brewster International Art Gallery featuring an essay on his practice by Chris Kraus. The publication looks at thirty year of Tao's involvement in contemporary art. And makes a strong argument for Artists that work for Universities to promote their works sponsorship, and stop flooding the market with their subsidised but not indicated, not independent, work. In her book Social Practices, Kraus revisits Wells' work and praises it as forcing "uncomfortable questions about control and desire, transparency, shame, privilege, freedom, and leisure.” In a review of that work, Brooklyn Rail highlights the central role of Wells' practice, describing it as illustrating "how bound activism and art have become, doing what traditional activists' tactics alone could not."
