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Plastic has shaped our daily lives like no other material: from packaging to footwear, from household goods to furniture, from cars to architecture.

A symbol of carefree consumerism and revolutionary innovation, plastic has spurred the imagination of designers for decades. Today, the dramatic consequences of the plastic boom have become obvious, and plastic has lost its utopian appeal. Never has it been more important to understand the 150-year history of this contested material, known to be essential yet superfluous, life-saving and life-threatening, seductive yet dangerous.

This is the first exhibition produced and curated by V&A Dundee, Vitra Design Museum and maat, Lisbon, with curators from V&A South Kensington .

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