Accepting the decay of plastic artifacts in museums
Pasts and futures surfacing in a life preserver from sunken MS Estonia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5700767 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Aura Colliander (University of Turku, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 312-324 |
| Publication date | 2025-03-04 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Heritage Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1352-7258 • E-ISSN: 1470-3610 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13527258.2024.2417060 |
| OpenAlex | W4403638603 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 31 |
This is a case study of a deformed life preserver originating from the ferryboat MS Estonia that sank in the Baltic Sea in 1994. In this post qualitatively positioned research article, I argue that transformed plastic is an active agent of both the decision-making and interpretation of a museum object made of plastic. This article contributes in a new way to the discussion of how museums of cultural history could manage deteriorating plastic objects. So far, a scientific materialist approach, guided by research in conservation science, has emphasised the need for special conditions to safeguard rapidly deteriorating plastic artefacts for future generations. However, the agency of deteriorating plastic does not only call for conserving the plastic material ‘forever’, but it also requires letting go of the ideal of minimising the further degradation of plastic
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Business · Futures contract · Visual arts · Conservation Techniques and Studies · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · History · Museums and Cultural Heritage
Emotional Heritage
The “In-Between Land” of Suspicion and Ambiguity
A Glossary for Doing Postqualitative, New Materialist and Critical Posthumanist Research Across Disciplines
Assemblage Theory
Curated decay
Plastic and Presentism
Clarifying the critical in critical heritage studies
The affective turn in museums and the rise of affective curatorship
Anticipated futures? Knowing the heritage of drift matter
Anticipating loss
Object narratives as a methodology for mitigating marine plastic pollution
Object-Interviews
From reflection to diffraction
Redefining pollution and action
Getting Personal
Toward an Ecology of Materials
| Highly cited | No |
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