Plastic Heart is an experimental exhibition that examines plastic as art material, cultural object, geologic process, petrochemical product, and a synthetic substance fully entangled with the human body.
Overview
The exhibition includes new commissions, historical and contemporary artworks that relate to plastic as a politically loaded material, and investigations into the paradoxes of plastic conservation in museum collections. The exhibition acknowledges plastics as both lubricants of artistic, gallery, and museum practices and also as ‘wicked problems,’ made even more complex by their use and discard during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Plastic Heart mobilizes practices of institutional critique and proposes an alternative method of exhibition development and presentation that addresses ecology and sustainability in content and form. Seeking to stimulate viewers to be active observers, the exhibition challenges received modes of artmaking and viewing that are deeply dependent on fossil fuels. It also features data visualizations of a study conducted by the Synthetic Collective that provides a first-ever snapshot of post-industrial microplastics pollution on the shores of the Great Lakes. This exhibition links scientific and artistic methodologies to show how arts-based approaches to thinking and working can make viable contributions to environmental science and activism.
Works by
Christina Battle, IAIN BAXTER&, Sara Belontz, Leticia Bernaus, J Blackwell, Amy Brener, Hannah Claus, Sully Corth, Heather Davis and Kirsty Robertson, Aaronel deRoy Gruber, Fred Eversley, Naum Gabo, General Idea, Kelly Jazvac, Woomin Kim, Kiki Kogelnik, Les Levine, Mary Mattingly, Christopher Mendoza, Tegan Moore, Skye Morét, Meagan Musseau, Claes Oldenburg, Meghan Price, Françoise Sullivan, Catherine Telford-Keogh, Lan Tuazon, Marianne Vierø, Joyce Wieland, Nico Willliams, Kelly Wood
Trailer
Watch the exhibition teaser.
Plastic Heart Dialogues
Interdisciplinary conversations with artists, arts workers, activists, scientists, and policy experts about urgent issues around plastic and plastic pollution. Reserve your spot on the Art Museum website.
Plastic Pollution, Toxicity and Policy Change
Part of a Dialogue Series in conjunction with the exhibition Plastic Heart: Surface All the Way Through on view at the Art Museum.
Plastic Pollution in the Laurentian Great Lakes: Industry and Invisibility
Part of a Dialogue Series in conjunction with the exhibition Plastic Heart: Surface All the Way Through on view at the Art Museum.
The Plastic Conservation Conundrum: Preserving Plastics in Museum Collections and Plastics’ Durability in the Environment
Part of a Dialogue Series in conjunction with the exhibition Plastic Heart: Surface All the Way Through on view at the Art Museum.
Sustainable Museums
Part of a Dialogue Series in conjunction with the exhibition Plastic Heart: Surface All the Way Through on view at the Art Museum.
Virtual Spotlights
Commissioned essays, interviews, and video content offering a deep dive into the themes explored in the exhibition. New content published monthly on the Art Museum website.
Presented by
Supported by
