A Dundee exhibition traces the strange history of plastic from imitation ivory billiard balls to polluting particles – and asks if it can be rehabilitated
In one sense the story of plastic is a straightforward cautionary tale. What was initially hailed as a wonder material that would solve so many of the world’s problems turned out to be a potentially existential threat to planetary health. But how did one thing lead to the other? And is that narrative arc quite as smooth and quite as depressing as it appears? A new exhibition at the V&A Dundee seeks to interrogate the history of the material through its inventors and industries, designers and advertisers, consumers and protesters. Perhaps more urgently, it also asks what is the future of this now ubiquitous substance.
“Up until the middle of the 19th century, people had looked to the natural world for the sort of materiality that we now associate with plastics,” explains curator Charlotte Hale. “Materials such as shellac, ivory, tortoise shell and horn could be subjected to heat and pressure to make them malleable and durable and capable of being shaped into coveted and luxurious household items.” But with industrialisation and rising demand came attempts to synthetically mimic these properties, though early scientific advances were habitually undermined by commercial failure. Perhaps surprisingly, imitation ivory billiard balls were one success, despite early examples having the unfortunate effect of making colliding balls sound like a gunshot, laughs Hale, “prompting bar owners in America to complain that customers were actually drawing their weapons in response”.
