Local Produce

The Local Produce project used 8 large aluminium slabs measuring 6m in length, 1m in width and 400mm deep. The slabs weighed approximately 5 tonnes each. The slabs are a value-added aluminium, with various alloys added to the core material. These particular slabs are “scrap” in that while they have no external flaws, they have internal inconsistencies which require that they be remelted. The project gives the slabs a temporary reprieve and they will be returned after the duration of the exhibition to be melted down and reused. The slabs that were borrowed from Tomago were used to make aluminium foil. Aluminium foil is an expensive looking material. At the supermarket, a 70 metre roll of foil, 30 cm wide, costs $10AUD. This is discounted because of the large length—it weighs 670 grams. This results in the calculation that 48 tonnes of aluminium will make 6000 kilometres of aluminium foil of this width. If 70 metres costs $10 retail, then the retail value of 6000 kilometres should be a bit over 857 thousand Australian dollars. The wholesale value of the eight slabs is more like $125.000.

The project explored issues of import and export, materiality and value as well as questioning the use and status of public space within a post-industrial city. The project was presented at an invited symposium hosted by the Newcastle Regional Gallery, published in Steffen Lehmann (ed), Back to the City (Cologne: Hatje Cantz) and later expanded in a peer-reviewed scholarly paper.