Fantastic Plastic
Significant statistics
The concept
In 2019, such events were held in Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh, Perm, Ufa, Tomsk, and Moscow. A new collection of exhibits was opened in Moscow in the fall of 2020, followed by the project’s launch, in 2021, in the city of Tobolsk. The exhibition’s 2022 edition was hosted by Tomsk and Omsk.
Educational program
2021 saw Tobolsk host an educational program for museum professionals that included both a theoretical part consisting of an overview of the history of designing cohesive object-spatial environments and an outline of principles behind selecting display exhibits, and a hands-on session that included such topics as development of concepts and texts, working with space, visual and graphic design, interactions with partners, and recruitment of volunteers.
The project's educational sessions in 2022 were attended by more than 1,700 people. Lectures and excursions were open both to ordinary residents of Tomsk and Omsk, and to professional audiences. The program in Omsk featured an additional master class for children and a film screening session.Project 2023
Between May 26 and August 20, the exhibition was housed at the Mira Square Museum Center in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia's largest contemporary art exhibition venue. The Mira Square Museum Center was made accessible for people with disabilities. In addition, a number of exhibits were additionally annotated in Braille to accommodate the needs of the visually impaired and blind visitors. Some display items could be taken in one’s hands to get a feel for the unique properties of recycled plastics. For example, the items on display provided by the UK’s Smile Plastics are almost indistinguishable from natural granite to the touch, whereas the material created under the supervision of Margarita Kovalchuk from Good Plastic Company looks like wavy glass.
Between September 13 and November 12, the exhibition was held in Kazan. During this period the exhibition was visited by around 10 thousand people. The exhibition’s educational program included a lecture by one of the most famous Russian design critics and a design historian Olga Kosyreva, as well as a screening of the "Fantastic Plastic” film dedicated to explaining what plastics mean for designers and artists all over the world. The exhibition featured more than 40 activities including lectures, tours, master classes and film viewings.
What made the Kazan-based exhibition stand out was the involvement of designers from Tatarstan who presented their products that had been made out of recycled plastics. Besides engaging with the Qullar home decor design studio, the exhibition’s organizers entered into a partnership with the Wait! studio specializing in producing accessories from recycled plastics.
The exhibition featured contemporary apparel made with eco-friendly fabrics, as well as eyewear frames, home decor items, sculptures, a Jenga board game and many other items made out of what used to be plastic bottles, advertising banners, or car tents.
On November 22, 2023 through January 14, 2024, the exhibition was housed by Nizhnekamsk’s House of Folk Art. The display also featured two brands from Tatarstan: Qullar and Wait! Qullar is a home decor and furniture design brand and studio that makes fanciful chairs, coffee tables and candlesticks from recycled plastics with inspiration drawn from their native land’s color schemes and nature. The Wait! design bureau uses throwaway advertising tents to produce stylish backpacks, rolltops, shopping bags and spacious document holders. In all, the exhibition in Nizhnekamsk welcomed more than 3,000 visitors.
In summary, the 2023 project featured a total of 224 events including lectures, master classes, film viewings, and tours.