This changes everything

For so long the material that made the modern world possible, plastic's own future now feels under threat. Can V&A Dundee's new show restore its reputation?

- Jan Patience

The Graduate is, of course, best remembered for Mrs Robinson's seduction of young Benjamin Braddock, but the 1967 film also contains an iconic exchange that captures a particular moment in time, when the manufacture of synthetic plastic had ramped up to Olympic proportions. If you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch: Dustin Hoffman's fresh-faced graduate has no idea what he wants to do in life, but a career in plastics is probably last on the list (for a flavour of the scene, see left). But Mr McQuire was right; for a young man like Benjamin, it was the future.

But while plastics seem so much a part of the modern world, it's worth reminding ourselves that they also have a past life that stretches back several centuries. As Plastic: Remaking Our World, a new exhibition at V&A Dundee reveals, the history of plastics is rich, varied, and more than a little surprising. Presenting us with objects such as a knife and fork made from silver and tortoiseshell dating from the early 18th century, all the way to a polypropylene facemask manufactured in 2022, the show puts plastic firmly in context.

A co-production from V&A Dundee, the Vitra Design Museum in Germany and Lisbon's Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, the exhibition charts the history of plastics, from natural materials known for their plasticity (i.e. the quality of being easily shaped or moulded), to the invention and subsequent mass manufacture of synthetic alternatives.

Functional and stylish design played a key role in the development of synthetic plastics during the 20th century. Take Eero Aarnio's Ball chair from 1963 - on show in Dundee in all its Space Age glory. It didn't appear in The Graduate, but it did have a starring role in another 1960s classic, the TV series The Prisoner.