Eternal employment: work in Sweden for which they will pay more than 2,300 US dollars to do nothing

And all that to do nothing. Or better, do what you want.

This would seem to be the dream job of anyone, but the Swedish artists Simon Goldin and Jakob Senneby seek to make it happen with the support of the Nordic Agency for Public Art and the Nordic Transport Authority.

This is an art project called Eternal Employment, so its creators already had an initial fund of about $ 750,000.

And many will be called and few will be chosen: only one candidate will be hired, although, according to its creators, no particular skill or qualification is needed to obtain it.

The call has already been launched and is open to citizens around the world. Applications will then be received only in 2025 and the position will not be officially open until the following year.

It will be on these dates that the new Korsvägen station in Göteborg will become operational, which will be the "workplace" of the chosen employee.

In fact, you will not spend the day there: you will only have to present each morning and connect to a clock that will activate a set of fluorescent lights.

At the end of the day, you must go back to "mark your exit" and turn off the lights.

The rest of the day, you can do what you want.

"The position has no duties or responsibilities, besides the fact that the work must be done in Korsvägen, what the employee chooses to do is the job," says the call.

Of course, they can not have other paid jobs while they hold this position, which may be for life … or until the worker resigns.

As Goldin and Senneby explained to Atlas Obscura – the first media to publish this information – a foundation was created to coordinate the work, which will become an "employer guaranteeing equal opportunities".

Where does the money come from for work?

Goldin and Senneby were the winners of a competition launched in early 2017 by the Swedish Public Art Agency and Transportation Administration for artists wishing to contribute to the design of the new station from Korsvägen.

Both artists had an idea that went beyond the murals and sculptures that adorn most railway stations in the world.

That's how they proposed to create a booth in the station with a clock with some lights and pay the price money to a worker who has to go every day, even if he had absolutely nothing to do.

They earned 7 million Swedish kronor, equivalent to about 750,000 USD for the idea and the project is already under way.

For now, the authors have created a foundation to prevent the imposition of money and then invest it in the market.

In this way, they expect profits to accumulate and money to reach 120 years old.

What does this job really consist of?

Goldin and Senneby are known for their highly political art and this work does not seem to be an exception.

Thus, Eternal Employment is a social experience that will explore what can lead a human being to a meaningless work that, beyond its attractions, can become a reason for apathy, routine, laziness and boredom .

But the idea also contains a serious political statement.

"In the face of mbadive automation and artificial intelligence, the impending threat / promise is that we will all be superfluous on the productive side," they wrote in their proposal.

And, in the opinion of the authors, it is necessary to follow the evolution of the situation. Some years, "we will all be somehow" employees of Korsvägen "".

How did the reception go?

At the announcement of the award last October, the jury highlighted the humor and innovative idea proposed by the creators and considered it a high quality artistic expression ".

But that was not the unanimous reaction.

Several politicians considered that it was a "mockery" of "gains from the transcendental social state" in Sweden or "the use of money taxpayers to organize a nostalgic return to this same social state, "he wrote in a summary of criticism. Brian Kuan Wood, board member of the Eternal Employment Foundation.

Meanwhile, Lars Hjälmered, of the Gothenburg Moderate Party, has described the work of art as "stupidity".

Goldin and Senneby say that they do not ignore these criticisms.

In fact, they recognize that paying someone to show up twice a day at a station where they have nothing to do is simply nonsense.

But that, they say, is precisely the idea.

BBC.