Summary
The Museum of Design in Plastics (MoDiP), formerly the Design Collection Museum, is a specialist research resource within Arts University Bournemouth (AUB). The resource consists of:
- a collection
- staff and their expertise
- a real and virtual programme
Design in plastics, as the focus for a museum collection, has particular potential within a learning and teaching environment. Plastics and museums are almost contradictions in terms. Plastics are controversial and associated with the new, the cheap and the familiar; museums are part of the establishment and associated with the old, the expensive and the rare. People/students tend to find it easier to engage with plastic products than with less-everyday museum objects and their de- and/or re-contextualisation within glass cases encourages analytical discussion. MoDiP has, therefore, the potential to be an especially powerful asset for an institution that aspires to be the UK’s specialist higher education provider for the arts, design and media.
MoDiP aims to add unique value to the AUB as:
- a learning resource
- a resource for collaborative, experimental and interdisciplinary, research
- a gateway
MoDiP's purpose is to collect, research and present artefacts made of, or including components of, plastic. It aspires to be recognised as the UK’s leading resource for the study of, research into, and interpretation and presentation of design in plastics.
The full Strategic Forward Plan and our Collection Development Policy can be downloaded below.