Constance ARI

In the 1970s the average ten-speed bicycle cost around $195. At the time they were considered the ultimate in recreational cycling, but they soon became a product of obsolescence, and are now discarded without a thought. Once kept safely in the shed, or even the house, cleaned and oiled regularly, they now collect cobwebs, or slowly rust away out in the weather. Worse still, many are now buried in landfills all around the world.

What are these bicycles worth? To a teenager in the 1970s, everything: freedom, escape, independence. In scrap metal today, about $1. But perhaps our values are distorted. Maybe scrap metal should be worth more. Perhaps it isn’t about money at all. Maybe we should use something until it cannot be used anymore, before we even consider replacing it. Maybe we should give more thought to the true worth of the things we own, and the things we desire. Then perhaps if we give and share and consider the needs of others, we may well end up with everything we ever wanted and so too can everybody else.

Andy Vagg was born in Sydney in 1964. He is currently completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts, at the Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania, Hobart, majoring in sculpture. Andy began his undergraduate studies at the University of Newcastle, after completing a Certificate III in Design Fundamentals at the Hunter Institute of Technology, in 2001. The same year, Andy won the 3D Functional Art category of the Waste As Art competition, and was runner up in the same category the following year. Working with materials destined for landfill has been central to Andy’s practice, and he has exhibited extensively in Newcastle, then Hobart over the past seven years. Andy is represented in private collections in Newcastle, Sydney and Hobart.