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Why plastic's NOT fantastic: London's Victoria and Albert Museum is desperately trying to preserve its PVC artworks

May 25, 2015 | In the Press

From Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3096784/Why-plastic-s-NOT-fantastic-London-s-Victoria-Albert-Museum-desperately-trying-preserve-PVC-artworks.html)

Plastic lasts for ever — or so countless children, warned against littering, have been taught.

But London's Victoria and Albert Museum is finding otherwise, and is now racing to save some of its most prized 20th-century works, from furniture and art to clothes and toys. 

An inflatable chair from 1969 has gone rigid, while a PVC minidress is now so sticky that it must be kept behind glass.

The problem is that plastic is not as stable as many thought, and is now decaying. 'It's something that museums all over the world are trying to find a solution to,' says head conservator Sandra Smith. 

'We're doing a lot of work collectively to try and find answers … Plastics are such a relatively modern material in terms of mankind, we're on that learning curve.'

She said that people wrongly assume that plastic is 'stable' when it is actually a 'brittle' material.

'People don't recognise that, when something's a modern material, it takes time to understand [it],' she said.

'We have lots of techniques that we've used traditionally on wood, glass and other materials that we understand. Plastics are really quite sensitive.  

'So Imperial College are working with us to understand at a really microscropic level what's happening to plastic.' 

The museum is collaborating with Imperial College and University College London to find ways of saving works of art and design featuring plastics, including polyester and polyurethane. 

Some plastics have become too delicate even to be exposed to too much light or have developed a sensitivity to cleaning, even with water.  

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