Plastic Crush
Tropenmuseum
until May 1, 2023
Fake, junk, trash, cheap, clean, counterfeit, polluting, fantastic, dream, colourful, smooth, transparent, light, mass-produced. What do you think of when you hear the word plastic? The new exhibition Plastic Crush is about our changing relationship with plastic. The old dream that plastic would improve the world turned into fear of a world awash in plastic waste.
The exhibition shows the different ways people around the world live with plastic. Global and local stories, objects from the museum’s collection, contemporary art and plastic icons are all linked to the global systems that introduced and spread the material.
In Plastic Crush, our new exhibition, four young designers reflect on the relationship between people and plastic. From our depots, each designer selected collection pieces dating back to the days before the invention of plastic. Those objects inspired them to develop new work for the exhibition. Meet the four designers: Daria Biryukova, Jie Chen, Gundega Strauberga, and Lena Winterink.
Dit Was De Plastic Tijd
Over een smerig soepzootje & jonge helden
We take children to the distant future, where the plastic problem has long been a thing of the past. An archaeologist talks about the time we live in now: the plastic age, when people threw away plastic cutlery after a party, animals got into trouble because of plastic waste, and manufacturers were allowed to put microplastics in toothpaste.
Sustainable Jewelry by Jianhui
Quality and durability are at the heart of de designs by Jianhui when developing their beautiful jewelry.
Tot over mijn oren in het plastic
‘Tot over mijn oren in het plastic’ tells about the history of plastic, the advantages and disadvantages, our changing relationship with the material and whether we can dream of a plastic-free world. You can hardly imagine it anymore, but in the middle of the last century everyone was very enthusiastic about plastic. Now we are looking for ways to use as little plastic as possible. How did that happen?
