Hello Again Exhibition
Barnsdall Municipal Art Gallery - Fall 1997

"Our disposable society and the afterlife of waste."
-David Hertz A.I.A.

There is increasingly less resistance to understanding the reality that our society is living beyond the carrying capacity of the planets finite resources. Our patterns of resource exploitation could disposes the earth of its resources in the space of a few lifetimes. Yet we continue to borrow from our children's future by allowing ourselves to be caught up in the immediate gratification of" consuming" things we are told we need or are led to desire. Commerce depends on the manufacture of consent and desire while holding back technology for a planned obsolescence. Ours is an economy of abundance and waste.

The word" consumer" actually is a misnomer in that we generally don't actually consume, rather we partially consume but leave as a byproduct a great deal behind. We are a culture that creates packaging that serves its purpose for twenty seconds and last potentially 2,000 years. As Americans we consume approximately 35% of the worlds resources and create over 50% of its solid waste (over twice our own weight per day) with only 5% of the worlds population. Considering that most of the world wants what we have, what will happen when the majority of the worlds population (90 million per year) emerges? will they become a combustion society with a similar insatiable appetite for mass produced , monocultural and disposable products?

In nature there is no waste, and no species are unemployed "waste equals food" is the law of ecology. Unlike locally self reliant cultures and indigenous peoples our transformation from the agrarian, to the industrial and now informational economy has led to an increased decentralized distribution network. This has contributed to our unconsciousness of the origin, manufacture, distribution and final disposition of the things we come in contact with on a daily basis whether its food, fuel, packaging, information and products. There is an embodied energy, in the life cycle of these "things" that we take for granted a memory, or "karma "and perhaps even a soul.

The ingestion,digestion and elimination of products through our society should be considered. By understanding the way in which these objects travel from cradle to grave or, currently revised, to cradle to cradle we can better understand the total life of a product. When we say to "throw away" what do we really mean? Is there such a place as away? Or is it just out of site out of mind ? In our insatiable desire for more we are producing more waste. Despite futuristic visions of the paperless office the use of the computer has only increased paper waste.

The ability to purchase more from further away, in a more impersonal way, has led to less understanding and appreciation for how that product was made. Society has come to expect uniformity and consistency in its products as ideals that have been propigated by mass production .We have been moving away from craft and from valuing the individuality and inherant imperfections that show the hand of the maker. This is often refered to as "character" in a suspicious or negative way.One of the differences between the mass manufactured object and the hand crafted one is that one seeks to disguise the reality of its labor,while the other seeks to celebrate it.

In our post natural world, products are becoming obsolete and disposable as our desire for convenience and impatience with time increases. If we have come to see things we use as disposable, have we similarly transformed the way we think about our fellow human beings? If education is the recycling of knowledge then hopefully we can learn to mimic natural ecosystems and create a sustainable future as practical idealist.

Those of us interested in the making of things must help to shape the future. Products either should be designed for longevity or for ease of disassembly,remanufacturing and recycling and biodegratability. Manufacturers should be responsible for the end use and final disposition of their products and packaging. Further, the concept of ownership should be expanded to allow for leasing of products and return of products once they have served their useful life.Moreover, products including buildings should be designed to allow for expandability adaptability and reuse with an appreciation for the longview.Buildings are not "finished" when constructed,they are just starting a new life.

The participants in this exhibition look at the backside of our society, and find beauty and meaning in the seemingly unattractive discards, cast aways, and refuse from our municipal solid waste stream, from the off fall scrap of the factory floor to the objects left over from the dismantling of industrialism and technology. The objects in this exhibition acknowledge that recycling is more than collection and see the potentiality of waste as a resource, an urban ore, that if reused can save precious virgin resources while coaxing beauty out of ugliness.

The life of objects is not linear but cyclical, interdependent and continues with an afterlife. This work seeks to add to the three R's of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle... Restore, Reinterprit, and Reincarnate.

*Architect, builder, designer, and eco-preneur David Hertz is founder and president of Syndesis, a multidisciplinary firm that has pioneered the use of lightweight precast concrete in environmental design. Hertz crafts his Syndecrete into tiles, fireplaces, sinks, vases, doors, countertops and more--casting his vision of concrete as an environmentally sound alternative to any building component. Hertz's work earned him Inc. magazine's 1993 Design Leadership award. His Syndecrete furniture and product designs are published and exhibited world-wide. And is included in the permanent collection of the Museum Of Modern Art design collection Hertz is an active member of the environmental community and consults to the A.I.A. on environmental issues. David Hertz teaches on ecology and architecture at U.C.L.A. David resides in venice with his wife and their three agents of change.