Paid to Do Nothing The Art of Profitably Sitting Still

Paid to Do Nothing The Art of Profitably Sitting Still In economic hard times, when jobs are scarce and the search for one seems fruitless, at some point one may be tempted to give up and say, Theres nothing mora I can do.But in economically hard-hit Ireland, Galway street illusionists like Mr. Black ( the stage name of the seated statue, below) and his silently levitating saffron-robed neighbor (left) give that pessimistic thought a different, more hopeful, spin I can do more nothing. Thats the message implied in their less-is-more approach to generating income and artspecifically, through a kind of non-performance art.Earning More by Doing LessMr. Black does his non-doing by silently, motionlessly sitting on his self-constructed throne(which he created and has occupied since 2006 as a tribute to Irish writer Pdraic Conaire), unblinkingly peering at passersbyincluding me, completely taken in by the illusion in our first encounters with it and him.In fact, I wondered how I had overlooked the statue during my saunter past the same spot the previous day. (NoteMr. Black says his work replaces the real Eyre Square commemorative statue of Conairesh that was vandalized, decapitated and eventually moved to the Galway City Museum.)Working the street on a tacit for-fee basis, i.e., donations, Mr. Black and others like himnot only in Ireland, but all around the world, including in Tallinn, Estonia, where a couple of years ago I met another UK illusionist (shown standing below)earn or supplement their main livelihoods by literally doing nothing.In fact, the less they do, the more they make.Crouching Tiger, Hidden SecretsAny errant twitch, a sneeze or even a subtle shift in posture will ruin Mr. Blacks illusion and chances of making money. The closest analog in nature is the crouching tiger, silently leise, eyes on its prey, waiting for the right moment to pounce. One flick of the tai l and the game is over, because the game will be gone.But, despite the common element of motionless illusion (and therefore deception), the analogy is not perfect, since the illusionists quarry, quarters, euros and dollars come to him, well within mutual sniffing distance, to offer their money if not themselvesup, instead of being chased and pulled down.As for the levitation (captured in the unretouched photo, above), less-is-more is executed in two ways through a stiff-upper-lip motionless meditative pose and much less material stuff between the uplifted spirit and the solid ground below.In fact, apparently zero material stuff. (Wondering how its done? Think about it. Better yet, fly to Galway to take a firsthand look, and think some more, or cheat and look for the explanation on YouTube.)Silent Sitting vs. Collecting Unemployment BenefitsPaid for doing nothingsounds like collecting unemployment benefits? It shouldnt. Such a comparison between these illusionist careers and collecti ng unemployment insurance benefits (UIB) will not withstand scrutiny, even though some will argue that such benefits are paid for doing nothing and that some on the dole create the illusion of actively looking for work.(Actually, Mr. Black does a lot more elsewhere than sit He writes, directs, produces and teaches theatre, has his own theatre company called Colours Street Theatre and stages a one-man show called, understandably enough, The Statue. By the way, he chose his stage name, Mr. Black, to reflect the Colour Street Theatre groups color-oriented mission.)First of all, and in general, UIB recipients are still scrambling to find or create work, doing as much as they can to restore their full incomes and lifestylesincluding a lot of very visible footwork pounding the pavement to secure a career or a job, any job. Sitting still is the last thing that they try to perfect.Second, despite the appearance of effortlessness and of doing nothing, creating motionless illusion seems to me to be hard workas a daunting extension of the universal early childhood physiological challenge of sitting still for even the shortest time. To me, it looks like Yoga pose-holdingsomething else I have neither the discipline nor the patience for.Yes, it is doing nothing, but doing it masterfully, creatively and unflinchingly. (Regarding the fatigue factor, Mr. Black describes his statue non-performance as not tiringbut possibly only because, as he told me, he holds the pose for only five minutes at a time.)As for the levitationist, he pretty much silently held the pose in the photo all the while, maybe 30 minutes, except for when I interrupted him to ask my questions, during which time he conveyed the distinct impression that there was something else he preferred to do instead of the interview. What was that?To sit it out.