Stone Age, Bronze Age, Plastic Age: A Museum for our Future Relics

Museum of Plastic Age

A n ornamental comb made out of ivory from Predynastic Egypt, a lamp handle decorated with dolphins from the Byzantine Empire, a rock crystal ewer from Southern Italy back in the 13th century—these are just a few of the many precious items on display in the Metropolitan Museum. As visitors we indulge ourselves in viewing these artifacts and imagining the lives of those who used them. What will we leave behind for posterity? What objects from our everyday life will be put in museums and admired by visitors from around the world or even across the universe? What kind of stories will be told?

Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age—archaeologists have named eras in human history with materials that fundamentally impacted the way people lived. What material defines our age? According to Smithsonian.com’s Danny Lewis, we are entering, if not already living in the Age of Plastics. He writes: “With plastics filling landfills and washing up on coastlines around the world, the Plastic Age might soon take its place next to the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in the history of human civilization.”

Museum of Plastic Age is an exhibit of artifacts from the early 2000s, curated by anthropologists of the 35th century. By controlling the two knobs on the box, museum visitors can toggle between artifacts, access illustrations of different views, and watch short educational films about life in the Plastic Age.

Introduction

Cup With Human Neuron Pattern

A.D. 2017, Lower East Side, New York  |  Private Collection

Female Statue With Movable Wings

A.D. 2020, Brooklyn, New York  |  Private Collection

Spherical Objects With Mirrored Surface

A.D. 2018, Brooklyn, New York  |  Private Collection