The age of plastic: ingenuity and responsibility: proceedings of the 2012 MCI Symposium

Abstract

"This volume brings together papers presented at "The Age of Plastic: Ingenuity + Responsibility," a Smithsonian symposium hosted by the Museum Conservation Institute on June 7 and 8, 2012. The event was conceived as a cross-disciplinary exploration of plastic, as technological material, cultural phenomenon, preservation challenge, and force on the environment. Writers, scientists, conservators, historians, filmmakers, designers and policy makers offer researched and first-hand accounts from life in the Plastic Age. Papers are organized to highlight the importance and complexity of plastic material culture through juxtaposition of countervailing positive and negative viewpoints. The volume features observations on innovation in plastic with past and contemporary examples of furniture design, failed experiments with proteinaceous fibers before World War II, the transition of celluloid from ivory simulant to unique identity, the space program, and bioplastics in automobiles. Studies of the rise of food packaging further explore how plastic shapes and is shaped by our culture. Preservation challenges that new, often unstable plastic pose for the cultural heritage community are explored through case studies of novel conservation treatments, research into new deterioration phenomena, and knowledge transfer. The relationship between plastic and the environment is probed with perspectives on pollution, advantages of plastic to living zoological collections, and recycling."--Provided by publisher.

Contents

Preface / by Odile Madden, A. Elena Charola, and Robert J. Koestler -- Balancing ingenuity and responsibility in the age of plastic / Odile Madden -- Designing plasticity / Bill Moggridge -- "Astonish the world with... your new fiber mixter": producing, promoting, and forgetting man-made fibers / Mary M. Brooks -- Is it real? Imitation and originality in plastics / Robert Friedel -- Advanced materials used in space suite construction / Bill Ayrey and Linda Hewes -- Separating good plastic from bad plastic in conservation biology / Pierre Comizzoli -- Plastic and food culture / Cory Bernat -- Ford's driving role in the bio-based materials age / Debbie Mielewski, Ellen Lee, Angela Harris, and Cynthia Flanigan -- Conservation of plastics at the Smithsonian American Art Museum / Lucian H. Shockey Jr. -- Preserving plastic: challenges in the conservation of modern art objects / Thea van Oosten -- Engineered self-disassembly: a plastic that turns into gravel / Molly McGath and Odile Madden -- Midway: a message from the North Pacific Gyre / Jan Vozenilek -- Debris in the marine environment / Nancy Wallace and Dianna Parker -- Closing the loop with plastics / Mike Biddle -- Falling in and out of love: our troubled affair with plastic / Susan Freinkel.