A loyal companion: LVR Museum shows development of plastics over time

The topic of plastics moves us all in one way or another. After all, Bakelite, polyethylene and co. are part of our lives – yesterday, today and tomorrow. The LVR Museum in Oberhausen, Germany, has dedicated an entire exhibition to plastics: "Klasse und Masse" ("Class and Mass") comprises over 20,000 objects from the collection of the German Plastics Museum, which have been on permanent loan in Oberhausen since 2017 – it is the largest collection on the subject of plastics in Germany.

Dr. Klein-Wiele, what can visitors to the exhibition learn about plastics?

Holger Klein-Wiele: Visitors can learn about the exhibition from several perspectives. One theme is the development of plastic products in various functional or application areas in everyday life, such as kitchen utensils, televisions, radios or seating furniture. What shapes have designers developed for a product over time? In chair design, for example, the production of seating furniture without back legs is of great interest. Easily moldable plastic lends itself to the production process. A well-known example that has become a design icon is the Panton chair.

Another perspective arises due to the diversity of plastics, which manifests itself in different properties. Not all plastics are suitable for all applications. Phenol-formaldehyde resin, also known by the brand name Bakelite, used to be used to make not only radios and electrical switches, but also drinking cups and sandwich tins, but after a while they produced an unpleasant aftertaste - the material was not suitable for food. Therefore, alternative plastics such as polyethylene had to be used. What is interesting here is the emergence of different color designs, as with Tupperware, which is both a commodity and a design object.

Klein-Wiele: In cooperation with the Institute for Restoration and Conservation Science at the Technical University of Cologne and the Institute for Plastics Technology at the University of Stuttgart, the research project explored several questions: What influence do plastics have on our cultural development? What do products reveal about us through their shape design, manufacturing techniques and the use of specific materials? Where is the material interwoven into our everyday lives, setting trends, enabling innovation, or causing problems? And how can we preserve objects made of plastic for posterity?

Selected pieces from the collection served as the basis for the research project. The method chosen was trace reading, which focuses on the individual collection object as the starting point of the investigation. Indeed, in terms of their longevity, plastics often prove to be difficult. Over time, they can lose their original colorfulness and consistency or become brittle and fragile. It was therefore important to precisely determine the type of plastic used for an object - often combinations of materials - which provided insights into their properties and, in particular, the conditions for storing the objects in the museum depot for as long as possible.

In our society, plastic has a rather negative image these days. To what extent can the exhibition help to improve this image again?

Klein-Wiele: Plastics are inextricably linked with industrial mass production and we encounter them everywhere in everyday life. The exhibition shows the many ways in which this material can be used. Plastics were initially developed as inexpensive substitutes for natural materials, as in the field of jewelry for precious stones, but also as substitutes for ivory and tortoise shell. Other everyday items, whether in the home or in mobility, also became affordable in the first place thanks to the use of plastics. In the automotive industry, for example, plastics play an important role. Compared to metal, they offer greater design freedom, are less expensive and consume less energy in production. The low weight of the material ensures reduced fuel consumption. The safety technology and electronics of modern vehicles would be inconceivable without plastics. Plastics also play a role in bicycles. Today, 3D printing not only enables optimized, lightweight and stable frames for bicycles, but also the individual production of small series. Both locomotion by muscle power and production with bio-based plastics are sustainable. Of course, disposable products produced cheaply on a mass scale continue to cause major ecological problems. The market reacted initially by creating reusable systems, and is currently focusing on new recycling concepts and plastics based on renewable raw materials. These are also topics in the exhibition.

What is your favorite piece of the exhibition and why this one?

Klein-Wiele: My favorite piece in the exhibition is the Toot-a-loop, a transistor radio that can be twisted into a ring and worn as a bracelet. The Toot-a-loop was produced in bright colors and is a real eye-catcher, a funny design idea from the 1960s and a hybrid of consumer electronics and jewelry - visually more attractive than today's cell phone. But unfortunately it is rather impractical to carry - and you can't make phone calls or surf the Internet with it yet either.