ISH and Bow Arts Work Together to Explore the History and Heritage of Plastics

The UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage is working with Bow Arts, the Slade School of Fine Art, the UCL Department of Art History, the Institute of Making and environmental charity Thames21 on a project that explores the history and heritage of plastics, particularly in east London.  Raw Materials Plastics is a highly topical project that sheds a new light on a material which is both ubiquitous and controversial.

The 16th May saw the launch of Bow Arts’ exhibition at their Nunnery Gallery, featuring historic plastic objects and archival material alongside new artworks created in collaboration with UCL ISH.  We were particularly excited to see our laboratory technician Miriam and some of our equipment featured as part of resident artist Frances Scott’s new film PHX [X is for Xylonite].

UCL ISH will be leading other events as part of the project, including a public engagement event with the Mobile Heritage Lab on 17th August, a panel discussion on Perspectives on a better future for plastics with UCL’s Innovation Hub on 18th July, and the UCL Materials Innovation Networking Event on 15th October.  The exhibition will run until 25th August and there is an extensive programme of talks and tours.  The project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and by the UCL HEIF Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Fund.

For more information on the events, please see here: https://bowarts.org/nunnery/exhibitions

Image Credit: Robert Harris