+1.

RIP Frank Whitten.

… In written answers, the ministry insists that Pace is “not a programme or scheme”, despite Ms Tizard using such words, but instead a “tag in the system that indicates the…

Thanks, dude. As an admirer of your art, that means a lot.

Art…

My favourite example:

In The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy it is possible to fly as long as you don't think about the fact that you're flying. It's not terribly hard. All you have to do is throw yourself at the ground and miss.

Which reminds me of…

I meant "transporting", but the other word works as well.

Thanks for posting that Russell. It was totally transforming.

I don't think so. It was on my mind even when I said that art was in the doing, not the final product. But just thinking about it again, gave me pause to consider the numerous objections to that being the whole story.…

It's here in full on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcRodOfu_s8

Ai Weiwei is an extraordinary man — he seems to virtually define what an artist is.

I was struck by the way I liked every…

It has always seemed to me that art is a crap shoot. It’s a statistical game. If you pay…

And that can become an art form as well. Heston Blumenthal did a series called in search of perfection one episode of which was his search for the perfect fish and chips. The fascination for me was watching someone so talented and dedicated focussing so…

The bane of all sorts of groups – teachers for one. Getting a good balance is what is vital.

Ah....I've muddied the waters by mentioning Zen. The story is really about how, having perfected a skill where the actual technical ability has been subsumed into a non-thinking "pure" action…

More accountability employs more people to do the accounting. Sadly it usually results in fewer people doing the work as well.

I'd say so – to even find any wisdom in Zen at all. But I still don't buy it wholesale. It seems to me like the anguish and heartbreak that goes into a lot of great works is…

That isn't actually what I said – our brains do heaps of things that don't involve intellectualisation, such as motor skills, which involve two-way messaging between brain and muscles. The part of our brains which reasons…

Take driving a car – maybe one with a clutch and gearstick, as automatics make it so much easier – but it's not a natural process. One foot does one thing, the other does other things, the hands are engaged in various activities…

I'm not so sure that they don't extend the same principle to mental…

But your requirement that artists "fulfill that role and respond to that need for our world to be imaginatively represented and critiqued" does rather explain why PACE allows so few of them. I can just see…

But not solely a technical ability (although yeah, that's what art actually means). One could in fact point to Tao Wells' aforementioned project and ask where's the…

Not sure. I was deliberately vague about how one could learn technical abilities. But it seems to be a pretty big part of learning basically everything. I don't know about Zen masters, but there's no intimation that they can…

Did you ever read the story of the Zen master archer? He never missed. Then one day, someone said, as he lined up a shot, "Do you close one eye, or keep them both open?" The story goes that he had to learn how…

Um, I'm pretty sure that's only for the Emergency Unemployment Benefit, which is what students can get during their vacations. And the Accomodation Supplement is asset-tested. The UB…

I was lucky enough to be in that position at a time (1991) when the then-National government was very keen to move people to Taskforce Green and/or Job Plus. We did Planet magazine on that basis for about 18 months.

It paid only what the dole paid, but instead of…

And in Fine Arts! If you can't study that and call yourself an artist...Sounds like you…

LOL, no, I'm liking this, but I was worried it was stopping others dead.

The degree to which I agree with you will depend on the degree to which you accept that art is a technical…

Yes, sorry for forcing you to have a conversation at knife point. I should really stop doing that.

Thank goodness!

Or when Michelangelo claimed that sculpting was about removing the…

Maybe that's because it's true? But that doesn't mean some people's efforts don't tower over others – all I'm saying is that some tradespeople tower over others, and this is seldom seen as their artistry. It's like it's…

The living (albeit inert) embodiment of the Twatcock?

[Coat]

Isn't it a bronze *vulva*, technically?

Culturally I think we've tended to homogeneise all contributions, everybody is creative (although if you're an…

So the artists you know actually think tradies do good stuff, then, but you don't? I'm confused.

Really? I find the opposite. Indeed I wish that the tradesperson mistique were criticised more – but it isn't, which is how…

Who said it was multiskilled? I'm talking abour medieval workshops, not Renaissance Men! Painters painted, sculptors sculpted. Most of this work was done under contract, with the content and materials and style specified in that contact, often in finicky…

When's the last time you were asked to fresco a chapel? Seriously, the times have changed. And whilst a lot of painters/sculptors/carpenters/architects thrived in that particular multiskilled environment, writers still needed…

It's not entirely on account of that that I call her eccentric, and I certainly mean nothing bad by the term. I consider myself quite eccentric too. As…

Sometimes I wish artists were seen now as we were…

I'm not sure that's even eccentric – aren't writing books and engaging in public promotional jaunts two entirely different sets of skills? We have a pejorative word for writers that do one and not the other…

I didn't say they were. I was saying barely functioning people would be better off there than on some system that's trying to force them to work, even in the arts. Or they're wards of the state, as in the case…

A little, yes, sorry – lazy me. I meant socially, in the context of a work environment with its hierarchies. I know I have been that at different times, and with none of the talent. But it also bears making…

Not that cooking can't be an art form...but stories are less perishable!

I'm pretty sure they'll like your writing better than your cooking. Which is not to say your fishnchips aren't nice, but your words will reach a lot more people. I hope you keep fishing, though. There's something very enheartening about the thought of you out there with a spear…

But then, I think, I really can cook fish...but I am picky about freshness & mediums and – o phuque it all-

Yes!!!!

Ahem. Most people on disability benefits are not "barely functioning". The problem is that our employment arrangements, education and transport systems, built environments and social attitudes do not work properly for everyone. Fundamental barriers exclude…

In fact, some people are very good at that endless, mindless…

In fact, some people are very good at that endless, mindless hard slog. They make it look effortless. Put that person behind a counter, and there'd be some problems.
Actually, I have to agree with…

The conundrum is that most of the barely functioning human beings of any generation are not it's most creative minds. The correlation between not functioning and being artistic is not really that…

I find being unable to even broach reality, after receiving quite a lengthy rag session about how hard life it, to be taking accommodating to extremes.

Of course, you'll find no disagreement from me. I was talking about the Government and its agencies, rather than yourself.

Yes. Famously Martin Edmond drives a taxy between books – fine and good on him. It's just not for everyone. It pays to consider…

I find being unable to even broach reality, after receiving quite a lengthy rag session about how hard life it, to be taking accommodating to extremes.

It doesn't seem quite so clear cut to me. There's also a lot of successful artists who worked in shitty jobs to pay the bills too.

But I'm not even vaguely suggesting that…

It made sense for a while. But after 15-odd years, it’s wearing thin. I’m not about to suggest their benefits get cut, or the constant stream of support from the family be severed, but I do tire of hearing about the horrors of how hard their life is, when any…

I feel Minister Bennett thinks that people are being too picky

Not picky enough! There's a migrant worker scheme to bring in Pacific labourers to pick fruit in places like Waikati. It is being touted as a particularly effective form of direct aid, which it could be, if not for…

Yes – especially if they have to…

Trying to get my head around what you're saying here. Do you mean that if they take a job, they take it away from someone else, who ends up on…

This seems like a thorny issue.…

As usual, it's one or two cases that have been…