Plastic Matters

Plastic Matters

Press conference: Wednesday, 26 February 2025

Hardly another material is so omnipresent in our everyday lives than plastic. The term covers a number of different synthetic materials, with the basic substance composed to a large degree of petroleum. Due to its special properties, plastic has become a pivotal material in our consumerist culture: it is inexpensive to produce, easy to shape into a wide variety of forms and available almost globally. The KunstHausWien, a museum of the Wien Holding, is dedicating an exhibition to the much-discussed material in the Project Room Garage.

Once a sign of progress and modernity, today plastic poses an acute threat to our environment because of rising overproduction – for plastic is long lasting. A mostly short-term application contrasts starkly to the long decomposition process of an unspecific duration. Over several centuries plastic disintegrates into ever tinier particles – from microplastic to nanoplastic – during which pollutants are released into the environment. According to current research, complete decomposition never happens. Plastic is spreading across our planet in the minutest particles: from agricultural land into waters and the atmosphere, and even onto the snowfields of the Arctic. Our world is in danger of suffocating in plastic waste. To counteract this seemingly unstoppable process, the global production of synthetic materials has to be reduced, while recycling needs to be increased. The longer plastic remains in production cycles, the less amount of waste accumulates in the environment.

The exhibition Plastic Matters proposes a change of perspective in how we view and deal with plastic: from a waste product to a valuable material. Moving beyond the usual processes of industrial utilisation, the exhibition draws connections to material culture and illustrates the often-complex relationships between production, recycling and use. Three thematic chapters – collecting, reprocessing and designing – demonstrate the multifaceted processes of recycling and give an insight into how synthetic material can indeed be understood as a circular resource. Under the motto “Long live plastic”, regular workshops devoted to the topic of recycling aim to sharpen awareness for the growing problem and initiate social action.

Statements about the exhibition

Veronika Hackl and Stephan Kuss, curators:
“It is no longer a secret that plastic waste is a massive threat to our environment. With Plastic Matters we want to draw attention not only to this problem but also open up possibilities for taking positive action. For this reason, we have concentrated on potential alternatives for processing plastic which do not require industrial scale operations but are viable for everyone. From simple objects through to complex designs and installations – there are countless variations for recycled plastic.”

In cooperation with Precious Plastic und FANTOPLAST

Precious Plastic is a globally active community concerned with recycling plastic in many ways: from local collection points and tutorials on building recycling machines through to product design. The project goes back to an initiative launched by the Dutch designer Dave Hakkens. Locally, Precious Plastic Vienna has around ten members with different design and scientific backgrounds.

FANTOPLAST is a multidisciplinary team from Vienna that combines research, design, art and culture with circular economies. Regional plastic waste is recycled into a circular resource through a series of different design and production processes. The team works with scientific partners on sensible and long-lasting possibilities for reusing materials. FANTOPLAST are Julian Jankovic, Florian Schäfer, Max Scheidl, Alessia Scuderi and Raphael Volkmer.

Curators
Stephan Kuss and Veronika Hackl in cooperation with Precious Plastic Vienna and FANTOPLAST

Project Room Garage

The Project Room Garage is a place for contemporary art at the interface of ecology, community and (social) sustainability. Transdisciplinary and process-oriented exhibitions invite active participation and discuss key topics in current debates. Site-specific and - subject related art works create a space that enables the familiar to be questioned and something new to be experienced.

Admission is free.

Programm zur Ausstellung

Eröffnungsabend: Mittwoch, 26. Februar 2025 ab 17:00

Public Workshops Long Live Plastic

SAT, 29. 03.2025, 2:00 – 4:30 pm
WED, 30.04.2025, 5:00 – 7:30 pm
Register here

School Workshops Long Live Plastic

WED, 05.03.2025, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm (Aktionstag „Schule schaut Museum“)
WED, 12.03.2025, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm
WED, 14.05.2025, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Regsiter here kunstvermittlung@kunsthauswien.com

Forum Plastic

Neighbourhood Day
FRI, 23.05.2025, 6:00 – 7:30 pm
Register here

Pressebilder / Ausstellungsansichten
Plastic Matters

PRESSEBILDER Plastic Matters