Palmer Museum of Art

February 13–June 17, 2018

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon

September 22–December 30, 2018

Smith College Museum of Art

February 8–July 28, 2019

Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison

September 13, 2019–January 5, 2020

The Archive examined the ways in which plastic objects make up an inadvertent record of daily life from the mid-twentieth century onwards. Resiliently non-biodegradable, plastic has created both a cultural and literal archive for artists to salvage, identify, and assemble.

The Entangled Present revealed the ways in which plastic binds people, plants, and animals together across diverse geographical locations and through global systems. The works of art in this section focus attention on the complex effects of the reach of plastic on ecological—that is, interactive human and natural—networks as well as on current artistic practice and reveal the ways in which we are bound up in plastic realities, often regardless of our individual choices or ideals.

The exhibition concluded with a section dedicated to Speculative Futures, asking what unknown worlds are emerging from the omnipresence of plastic, including new geologic and biologic forms. Engaging with new materials and modes of plastic production, artists are also opening up our imaginations to the range of possible futures in plastic.