PlasticsFuture 2023

At the end of June, I attended a fascinating conference held at the University of Portsmouth. PlasticsFuture 2023 was convened over three days and brought together speakers from across the world to present their research around, and experiences of, plastics pollution. The team behind the conference are part of Revolution Plastics, an interdisciplinary research group based at the University. The group is an initiative drawing together colleagues from across the University of Portsmouth and assembling teams of researchers, business-leaders, campaigners, and citizens who share their commitment and ambition to transform the way we make, use, and dispose of plastic and prevent pollution. From developing sustainable fashion, to combatting microplastics, they are putting their research into practice, and addressing plastics pollution; generating a globally-relevant community of plastics researchers and contributing to the sustainable transition of the city of Portsmouth as a prototype and showcase for a sustainable plastics future.

Revolution Plastics, University of Portsmouth. Image: Louise Dennis

The three days were split into 6 sessions:

• Session 1: Microplastics - detection, transport and impacts for environmental and human health
• Session 2: Exploring the current issues of plastic use within the context of fashion and textiles and the role of plastics in the future
• Session 3: Plastic pollution in the Global South
• Session 4: The Plastics That Made Us
• Session 5: Creative Solutions to Global Challenges
• Session 6: Tackling plastic pollution: Global Change Perspectives

Session 1: Microplastics - detection, transport and impacts for environmental and human health

Description: Microplastics are everywhere in our lives, in the food we eat and the air we breathe. As research on microplastics gathers pace, it is becoming apparent that microplastics may impact human health and we need to understand how to limit our exposure.

There are currently many projects and policies looking at how to reduce plastic use in packaging but less understanding on how this will impact microplastic numbers. This session will take a closer look at the challenges and discuss possible solutions.

Themes:

• Methods of analysis - including data collection
• Citizen science
• Microplastics in water, land and air
• Microplastics human health implications

Introduction: Dr Fay Couceiro, University of Portsmouth

Keynote: Dr Ben Williams, Senior Research Fellow, Air Quality Management Resource Centre, University of the West of England

Short talks by:

• Dr Sakcham Bairoliya, Nanyang Technological University - The Big Picture: Microbial interactions within the plastisphere
• Delphine Ciréderf Boulant, Institut de Recherche Dupuy de Lôme (IRDL) UMR CNRS 6027 - Assessment of microplastic contamination of organic fertilisers applied to agricultural soils
• Nia Jones, Bangor University - Simulating the impact of estuarine fronts on microplastic concentrations in well-mixed estuaries
• Pei-Chen Lin & Yin-Yi Chen, Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, National Taiwan University - Assessment of microplastics exposure from oral pathway in young adults: a pilot study in Taiwan
• Miguel A. Gomez Gonzalez, Diamond Light Source Ltd -Understanding how microplastics can act as transportation vectors of co-existing nano pollutants and their interaction within environmental solutions
• Dr Chunlei Fan, Morgan State University - Effect of High-Density Polyethylene Microplastics on Growth and Survival of Eastern Oyster Larvae in the Chesapeake Bay, USA
• Dr Judy Lee, Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Surrey - Nano/Microplastic induced membrane fouling and potential mitigation strategies

University of Portsmouth are using the GB Row Challenge to monitor microplastics. Teams of rowers, including former Olympic athletes, row around the British Isles, taking on complex tides and changeable British weather. The rowing boats are equipped with specialist equipment to gather scientific data throughout their journey.  Researchers then use this data to assess the environmental damage and long term impact of pollutants on our seas and oceans.  Image: Louise Dennis

Session 2: Exploring the current issues of plastic use within the context of fashion and textiles and the role of plastics in the future

Description: An opportunity to discuss current issues of plastic use within the context of fashion and textiles. Each year, the industry uses 342 million barrels of petroleum to produce plastic-based fibres such as polyester, nylon or acrylic. This equates to 1.35 per cent of the globe’s oil consumption. Worse still, these plastic-based fibres are responsible for 73 percent of microfibers pollution in Arctic waters and, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the plastic packaging on which the fashion industry is largely reliant, is estimated to make up 26 per cent of the total volume of plastics created each year – 72 percent of which is thrown away. However you choose to measure its impact, the numbers are staggering. This session acknowledges these very pressing issues that the fashion industry and academia is currently facing.

We will bring together scholarly experts and practitioners in the areas of plastic use, materiality and design to share their knowledge and experiences with fellow academics and practitioners. Scholarly, conceptual and practitioner papers are welcomed, especially those that address the following themes:

Themes:

• Fashion lifecycles vs plastic lifecycles
• Alternatives to fossil fuel based plastics for fashion and textiles
• Recycling of plastics
• How can plastics fit within a sustainable future
• Solutions to microfibre pollution from textiles
• A transition to a circular economic environment
• Single use plastic in fashion retail
• Consumer intention behind recycled plastic waste product

Introduction: Noorin Khamisani and Karen Ryan, University of Portsmouth

Keynote: Kate Goldsworthy, Professor of Circular Design and Innovation, Co-Director, Centre for Circular Design (CCD), Deputy Director, Business of Fashion Textiles & Technology (BFTT), University of the Arts London (UAL), UK

Short talks by:

• Dr Claudia Henninger - Presented by: Libby Allen, University of Manchester - Microplastic fibres released during washing of clothing: the unseen side of fashion
• Lisbeth Løvbak Berg, Consumption Research Norway (SIFO), Oslo Metropolitan University - Textile waste – past, present and future? Synthetics in Norwegian textile waste in Norway 2000-2023
• Dr Shreyas Patankar, Ocean Wise Conservation Association - Wash cycle design can reduce microplastic emission from home laundry
• Professor Lisa Macintyre, Heriot-Watt University - Fibre Fragmentation Scale – evaluating a proposed new method for reporting the results of fibre fragmentation testing
• Dr Victoria Bemmer, University of Portsmouth - Enzymatic deconstruction of polyester textiles
• Emma Bianco, Pure Earth Collection Ltd - Fashion and the plastic consequences

Session 3: Plastic pollution in the Global South

Chair: Dr Cressida Bowyer - Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director of Revolution Plastics, University of Portsmouth, UK

Keynote: Esrat Karim, AMAL Foundation - Plastic pollution in Bangladesh

Short talks:

• Professor Susan Jobling, PISCES - A Systems Approach to Preventing and Eliminating Plastic Pollution in Indonesian Societies
• Dr Fabrizio Ceschin & Dr Nazli Terzioğlu, Brunel University London - The PISCES Partnership Systemic Cross-Value Chain Design Approach to Tackling Plastic Pollution in Indonesia
• Cressida Bowyer, University of Portsmouth - Creative solutions to global challenges

Session 4: The Plastics That Made Us

Description: Focusing on the collections and exhibitions programme at the Museum of Design in Plastics (MoDiP), the only UK Accredited museum with a focus on plastics, this presentation will demonstrate how by learning from the past, manufacturers, designers, and consumers of plastics can make better informed choices. MoDiP's purpose is to use its Designated collection to develop understanding of the value of plastics within historical, contemporary, and sustainable contexts. Exploring the museum’s objects that encapsulate a variety of uses and activities - taking into account the clothes we wear, the games we play, and the environments in which we live - this keynote will show how valuable plastics, as a materials group, have been when used appropriately. It will also acknowledge the negative impact the poor use and disposal of plastics materials has on the environment and health.

Roundtable themes: The Care and Curation of Plastics

• Historical and contemporary cultural perceptions of plastics
• Curatorial relationships with plastics
• The seen and unseen uses of plastics
• Sustainability and the green consumer
• What can we learn about the future of plastics from their past?

Chair: Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan - Professor of Design History and Theory, Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries, University of Portsmouth, UK

Keynote: Dr Louise Dennis, Museum of Design in Plastics, Arts University Bournemouth - The Plastics that Made Us: The care and curation of plastics

Round table discussion:

• Dr Louise Dennis, Museum of Design in Plastics, Arts University Bournemouth
• Johanna Agerman Ross, Victoria and Albert Museum
• Dr Helen Peavitt , Science Museum
• Dr Susan Mossman, Plastics Historical Society

Session 5: Creative Solutions to Global Challenges

Description: Arts-based methods are increasingly being used in academic research to explore lived experience from a grassroots perspective. Artistic methods democratise the research process and disrupt traditional academic hierarchies, often revealing diverse values, and enhancing understanding. When communities collaborate with researchers to find solutions, the results are more local, targeted and contextually sensitive.

This session will include past and present projects in the Global South, methodologies and workshops.

Themes:

• Community-based participatory research
• The range of arts based methods
• Working in different contexts
• Practical workshops

Introduction: Dr Cressida Bowyer, University of Portsmouth

Part 1: The Role of community engagement in tackling plastic pollution

Keynote: James Wakibia, Role of individuals in the fight against plastic pollution

Short talks:

• Alice Darondeau, The SeaCleaners - The SeaCleaners
• Savannah Schaufler, University of Vienna, Austria - “Plast(dem)ic:” Materiality, Behavior, and COVID-19
• Luca Marazzi, Thames21 - Plastic litter has no place in the natural environment – key findings from the Plastic Free Mersey Project
• Victoria Prowse & Helen Powers, Environment Agency, East Midlands Regulated industry Team

Part 2: Participatory arts-based research methods: Examples from the global south

Keynote: Nelmo Newsong (Nelson Munyiri), Artist and Executive Director at Mukuru Youth Initiative - ‘Impact of creative methods in influencing social change’

Short talks:

• Angela McDermott, Waste Aid - MASIBAMBISANE: Towards a local circular economy in Mpumalanga, South Africa
• Nicola Hay, University of Portsmouth - IMAGINE PLASTICS; Immersive Experiences - SEEING IS BELIEVING
• Dr Leanne Proops, University of Portsmouth - Terrestrial Plastic Pollution and its Threat to Livestock and Livelihoods

One of the workshops looked at how puppets have been used to help to explain complex scientific concepts.  Here we made plastic eating enzymes which break the bonds between molecules and return the plastics to their useful building blocks making them easier to reuse again.  Image: Louise Dennis

Session 6: Tackling plastic pollution: Global Change Perspectives

Description: Following on from the landmark resolution reached at the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya last year to develop an international legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution, this session will focus on the progress and ambitions of the UN Treaty. What have we learnt from the process so far? What are the challenges and how can these challenges be addressed? What does a successful treaty look like? How can reuse systems help address plastic pollution? This session will include short talks and 2 roundtable discussions.

Themes:

• Where are we after INC-2 (Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee session)?
• How can we build a ‘just’ transition into the treaty?
• Transparency and disclosure issues in policy development
• Reuse as an effective policy option
• Stakeholder perspectives
• Introduction: Professor Steve Fletcher, University of Portsmouth

Short talks:

• Jill Bartolotta, Ohio Sea Grant and The Ohio State University - Partners in Plastic Pollution Prevention: Reducing Plastic Pollution through Public and Private Partnerships
• Valérie Patreau, Polytechnique Montréal (QC, Canada) - Moving away from single-use plastics, public policies effectiveness and consumers’ perceptions
• Steph Hill, University of Leicester - Sign the manifesto: Examining corporate advocacy efforts in the creation of a mandate to negotiate a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution
• Dr Tony Walker, Dalhousie University - Government policy responses to curb plastic pollution pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemicKeynote: John Chweya, Kenyan National Waste Pickers - Leveraging global policy to ensure a just transition for waste pickers

Keynote: Von Hernandez, Break Free from Plastic - How can the global plastics treaty serve as a platform for system change?

Panel discussion:

• Von Hernandez, Break Free from Plastic
• Zoe Lenkiewicz, Specialist in Global Waste Management
• Rachel Karasik, Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability
• Belen Olmos-Giupponi, University of Portsmouth
• John Chweya, Kenyan National Waste Pickers

Short talks:

• Dr James Doherty, Plastic-i Limited - Plastic-i: Enabling solutions to marine plastic pollution with satellite imagery & AI
• Lauren Weir, Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) - Agriplastics and the UK Food Supply Chain: How addressing policy failings and market powers is the ultimate solution
• Dr Noreen O'Meara, University of Surrey, Dr Tiago de Melo Cartaxo, University of Exeter & Professor Rosalind Malcolm, University of Surrey - Plastics pollution and youth communities: shaping ownership through adaptive legal tools

Panel discussion: Time is of the Essence – Negotiating a plastics treaty fit for purpose

• Chris Dixon, Environmental Investigation Agency
• Esrat Karim, AMAL Foundation
• Tony Walker, Dalhousie University
• Von Hernandez, Break Free From Plastic
• James Wakibia, Environmental Activist and Photojournalist

As you can see from the number of speakers, this was an inspirational and packed event with so many topics covered. I was so pleased to be a part of it and bring an historical context to the proceedings along with the panellists I was speaking alongside.

I learnt so much about the people living with the worst of the plastics pollution and the projects that are attempting to reduce the production and use of materials, those that are exploring ways to prevent the waste ending up in the wrong place, and those monitoring and / or removing it once it is there. It was good to see the use of artificial intelligence in a positive context too.

It was the kind of conference where there was so much to take in that you need more time to explore the subjects covered. I have no doubt that I will be spending lots of time over the coming weeks and months finding out more about the many speakers and the work they are doing.

Despite the serious subjects being discussed the event was extremely relaxed with a positive outlook. We had reception drinks on HMS Warrior on the first evening and a conference dinner on the second evening.  Conference dinners can be a little stuffy sometimes but this one had a festival vibe with a plant-based BBQ and live music making it much more suitable for networking.

No need to worry.  The cannons on HMS Warrior are made of plastic. Image: Louise Dennis

Louise Dennis, Curator of MoDiP

Curatorial talks

As a museum curator of a small museum, I find that my work each week can be varied and extremely interesting.  This last week has been full of working out budgets for the coming year, thinking about new acquisitions, updating object records, and thinking about our next exhibition.  I have also been doing lots of talking. 

Firstly, I was invited to the Museum of Richmond to talk to volunteers, staff and trustees from the museum and a group of arts students from Richmond College.  The Museum of Richmond are working towards putting together an exhibition entitled ‘Artificial Silk: From Kew to the World’ which will open to the public in late June. I was joined by Calvin Wooding, a fibre specialist, who spoke about the production of the material, whilst I put the invention in the wider context of plastics development and culture.  It was a great day with a wide-ranging audience, the students will be responding to the subject by creating art works that will feature in the exhibition.  I am really looking forward to going back and seeing the end results.

https://twitter.com/museumrichmond/status/1642131764691738624

My second public presentation was part of the AUB Open Lecture series.  These lectures are hosted at AUB by the Innovation team and are aimed at external and internal audiences.  My lecture was entitled Making connections: objects, visitors, curators.  Here I drew on topics and themes that were part of my PhD thesis and explored the ideas of:

• What makes a museum?
• Value and meaning
• Relational materiality and the relational museum
• The role of the curator

Making connections. Image credit Lucy Devall

Throughout the presentation I used personal experiences to illustrate academic thinking around collecting and the function of museums, with particular attention given to the difference between the act of private collecting and that of the public museum.  I talked about how we assign value to objects, and how this effects the way we relate to them, as well as the kinds of energies that are generated by object encounters.

If you would like to find out more about future AUB Open lectures sign up to the AUB Engage mailing list where you can be kept up to date with all the cultural activity from the museum and our engagement colleagues.

Louise Dennis

Curator of MoDiP

Designated Design seminar

In this week’s blog post we would like to look back on an afternoon seminar we held at AUB on 1^st December in partnership with TheGallery.  The seminar sat alongside our Designated Design: a plastics collection of national importance exhibition both of which are a celebration of, and thank you to, Professor Susan Lambert who has headed up the museum since it took the step to focus on design in plastics.   MoDiP was established in 2007 having emerged from an existing collection of designed objects at the AUB, Susan saw a specialist and underrepresented vein running through that collection and nurtured it to become internationally recognised with impact on the academic, museum, and public spheres.

Designated Design: a plastics collection of national importance exhibition. Image credit Eliza Naden.

The event was kicked off with a hearty welcome from AUB’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Paul Gough.  This was followed by a session exploring the work of three artists who have worked in different media and in different ways with MoDiP’s collection.  The first speaker was Mariele Neudecker, an artist who took part in a residency at MoDiP in 2015 entitled Plastic Vanitas.  Plastic Vanitas was a series of 49 photographs each one representing the entire contents of a box of stored objects from the MoDiP collection. These boxes were chosen because they contained at least one object that represented the symbolism found in 16th and 17th century Vanitas paintings. Mariele’s self-imposed rule was that whatever else was in the box was to form part of the still life. 

The next presentation was from Karen Wimhurst, MoDiP’s first Musician-in-Residence, who described w-RAP one, a performance she created alongside pupils from Ferndown Upper school in 2018, w-RAP two, a piece written by Karen featuring soprano Brittany Soriano (soprano), Elaine Close (trumpet) and Ole Rudd (vinyl), again in 2018, and w-RAP three, a collage of soundscapes from w-RAP one and two.  These projects subsequently feed into the chamber opera Synthetica: a toxic enchantment in 2019.   

Finally, we heard from Frances Scott, who had visited MoDiP in 2019 as part of her role as Resident Artist for the Raw Materials: Plastics exhibition, exploring the forgotten history of plastics in east London and held at the Nunnery Gallery. Frances spent time with the collection, scanning objects for her film ‘PHX [X is for Xylonite]’ through which she wanted to explore the relationship between the first semi-synthetic plastics and the chemical and industrial development of photography and film. We were treated to an excerpt of the film (the entire piece is currently on display in TheGallery), with a soundtrack featuring readings from Roland Barthes’ classic essay ‘Plastics’ (1957).

All of the artists were then invited to join together for a panel discussion chaired by Professor Paul Gough.  All three artists spoke warmly about their time connecting with the museum and the collection, and it was a pleasure to work with each of them.

Mariele Neudecker in front of some of the Plastic Vanitas photographs (image credit: Eliza Naden), Karen Wimhurst performing a new piece (image credit Eliza Naden), a still from Frances Scott’s PHX [X is for Xylonite] (image credit Frances Scott).

The second session was hosted by Dr Anna Farthing, AUB’s Director of Civic and Cultural Engagement, and explored the value of the status of ‘Designated Outstanding Collection’.  Speakers came from a range of museums, some of which had collections recognised by Arts Council England in the earliest days of the scheme in late 1990s, and others had been awarded the status more recently.

The museum speakers were Kate Arnold-Forster - Director, University Museums and Special Collections Services, University of Reading and Director, Museum of English Rural Life, Andrea Bishop - Director of Collections & Engagement, National Motor Museum, Carolyn Abel - Director of Culture, Southampton City Council, and Jo Elsworth - Associate Director (Culture and Collections), Library Services + Director: Theatre Collection, Faculty of Arts, University of Bristol.

Panel discussion led by Dr Anna Farthing with Andrea Bishop, Carolyn Abel, and Jo Elsworth.  Kate Arnold-Forster presenting. Image credits Eliza Naden.

The collections and experiences shared were fascinating.  Many of the same themes came up from all four speakers.  They spoke about how the status of designation made the staff think about the meaning and importance of the collections in their care, and how it gave the staff pride and a heightened sense of responsibility.   The status meant that designers and artists wanted to be associated with the collections, and other stakeholders, including senior managers, began to understand their importance.   The most significant statement that came out of the session was that the assessment was made independently.  We can all say that our collections are special but as the accolade has been awarded by an independent, external body it means that the status is confirmation of the significance of our collections.

We would like to thank everyone involved in the event including Paul and Anna for chairing the two sessions, our colleagues in TheGallery, the Civic and Cultural Engagement team, and BA (Hons) Events Management colleagues who supported the online streaming of the event.  We would especially like to thank all the speakers who made the seminar so interesting, and the delegates who joined us.

Louise Dennis, Curator, and Katherine Pell, Collections Officer

Plastic: Remaking our world

As you may have seen on our Instagram feed, MoDiP has had the great pleasure of loaning objects to an international exhibition curated by Vitra Design Museum, V&A Dundee, and maat.  The exhibition Plastic: Remaking Our World, which will be hosted by all three museums (Vitra Design Museum in 26.03.2022 – 04.09.2022, V&A Dundee 29.10.2022 – 05.02.2023 and maat, Lisbon spring 2023), examines the history and future of this controversial material: from its meteoric rise in the twentieth century to its environmental impact and to cutting-edge solutions for a more sustainable use of plastic.  Exhibits include rarities from the dawn of the plastic age and objects of the pop era as well as numerous contemporary designs and projects ranging from efforts to clean up rivers and oceans to smart concepts for waste reduction and recycling through to bioplastics made from algae and mycelium.

The case at the front of this picture displays objects from the Worshipful Company of Horners, whose collection we look after. © Vitra Design Museum, Photo: Bettina Matthiessen

Dr. Jochen Eisenbrand, Chief Curator, Vitra Design Museum stated that ‘the Museum of Design in Plastics has been most supportive of our exhibition and we are most grateful for this support. During our research and preparations for the show – all of which coincided with two years of COVID pandemic – MoDiP’s excellent online collection and the wealth of information it provides proved to be a most valuable asset and resource that the curatorial team of the exhibition kept coming back to again and again.’

Vitrac picnic ware and Sputnik jam dish from the MoDiP collection. © Vitra Design Museum, Photo: Bettina Matthiessen

He goes on to say: ‘Among the many wonderful and important loans that MoDiP is generously supporting our exhibition with are a Hawker Sear Fury cockpit canopy as the largest historic exhibit we are presenting and also some of my personal favourite exhibits: the Hax and Flip squeeze bottles from the 1950s and 1960s in the shape of a lemon, a banana, or a strawberry.’

Military lamp, Plasfort helmet, and fighter plane cockpit canopy from the MoDiP collection. © Vitra Design Museum, Photo: Bettina Matthiessen

Sqezy bottle BXL image, hax bottles and Sqezy washing up liquid bottle from the MoDiP collection. © Vitra Design Museum, Photo: Bettina Matthiessen

As a whole, the exhibition offers a critical and differentiated reassessment of plastic in today’s world. Interviews with designers, scientists, and activists underline the importance of an interdisciplinary approach in which politics, industry, science, and design collaborate closely to tackle the plastic problem.  While it is true that each of us is a catalyst for change, there will be no simple remedy to this issue. For this reason, the exhibition aims to address the bigger picture of plastic and its complex role in our world: by analysing how we came to be so dependent on it, by reassessing where the use of plastic is essential and where it can be reduced or replaced, and by reimagining possible futures for this contested material.

I am looking forward to visiting the exhibition when it comes to the UK and I am sure I will share more about it in another blog post in the winter.  In the meantime, find out more on the VitraDesign Museum website.

 

Louise Dennis

Curator of MoDiP

Provocative plastics: their value in design and material culture

Back in 2015, the Arts University Bournemouth held an international conference, Provocative plastics: design in plastics from the practical to the philosophical, attended by scholars, art and design practitioners, and members of the plastics industry from five countries. We are pleased to announce that the book of the conference has now been published: https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783030558819.

Its scope is more focused than the conference but on the area that elicited the most interest, plastic’s value. It consists of two sections. The first explores the multivalent nature of plastics’ materiality and their impact on creativity through the professional practice of artists, designers and manufacturers as a medium for making. The second explores how they are valued in societal use, people’s attitudes to plastics and the different values that can be applied to them.

The book is unusual in the range of its tone arising from the variety of experience of its authors. Some have hands on knowledge of working with plastics. As a result, their perceptions stem from anecdotal experience that, nonetheless, because of their practical knowledge of working with plastics as a means of livelihood, contribute meaningful testimony to the wider picture of plastics’ value. Others have researched their subject from specific theoretical standpoints and provide more traditional academic arguments. Some themes are common across chapters. Indeed there is a synergy across the texts in the two sections but from different perspectives. It is the interdisciplinary approach that sets this compendium apart. It brings together a variety of voices to unpick values attached across time to this paradoxical materials group, as their unique properties lead them to play an ever more essential part in our lives whilst simultaneously their ubiquity creates an ever-greater problem that we must solve.

Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, Cultural Historian and former Rector of the Royal College of Art and Chair of Arts Council England, says: ‘Plastics have had a very bad press - from just about every point of view: environmental, social, cultural, aesthetic, the lot. This book adopts a series of fresh perspectives on this much-maligned material. It explores, on the whole dispassionately, the use of plastics in fine art, industrial and product design, fashion, popular culture, in craftsmanship and in industry. And it asks the question ‘is it possible to have sustainable plastics?’ Provocative? Yes - and also both timely and important. For too long, the debate about this product of chemistry and manufacturing has been characterised by rhetoric and knee-jerks. It’s time to reflect.’

Susan Lambert
Chief Curator

w-RAP: a plastic symphony for a synthetic century

MoDiP is delighted to announce that it has funding from Arts Council England to enable it to work with a composer, an artistic director, a number of schools and some professional musicians to develop a creative music project exploring the light and dark faces of plastics.

The music and words will be written by the musician, Karen Wimhurst, who works across genres, bridging jazz, folk and contemporary classical ensembles. She is currently undertaking a residency at MoDiP exploring the issues that plastics raise through the museum’s collection and library, and in conversation with the staff.

The musical composition will complement MoDiP’s current exhibition, Polyphonic: music through plastics, the word polyphonic describing music that is created by the coming together of different voices. The exhibition explores the role of plastics in the playing, broadcasting and listening to music and highlights how the use of plastics materials, with their truly democratising effect, enhances the ability for everyone to participate in, and enjoy music in all its forms. 

MoDiP's current exhibition, Polyphonic: music through plastics

w-Rap will have 3 versions:

w-RAP one

The first will be performed in early July 2018 at AUB with pupils drawn from primary and secondary schools, featuring w-RAP band constructed from plastic wrapping materials and other more traditional plastic instruments such as recorders, clarineos and clarinets, as well as the bespoke 'membrophones', especially made in music workshops for the project run by the music educationalist, Nick Crump. This schools performance will include both live and recorded sounds from the children involved in the project and two professional players on trumpet and turntables.

w-RAP two

Following on from this, composer Karen Wimhurst will take recordings made from the schools and manipulate and recycle them into a sound track, mixed into her own work which will include an operatic voice.

w-RAP three

The music from the second stage will then be staged as an intimate music theatre production directed by Katharine Piercey, Course Leader of Acting at the Arts University Bournemouth, to be premiered in the Lighthouse Sherling Studio on September 26th 2018.

A vinyl recording will be made of the various iterations.

Susan Lambert (Head of MoDiP)