Plexiglas for sale: Engaging the open work

Abstract

This essay explores the transparent wonder material known as plexiglass, analysing not only its transformations from the everyday and generic to the more elevated forms of art and design, but how innovative design and artistic experimentation with plexiglass utilises design, transparency, and human engagement. As a substance, plexiglass’ blank slate nature can be productively considered in a myriad of forms at many levels through the lens of Umberto Eco’s theory of the “open work.” Histories of Plexiglas® as a chemical invention of the Rohm and Haas company will offer insights into its material transformations for the market, and its relationship to capital. To activate theories that engage Plexiglas® in interior space, I will discuss historical and contemporary design examples. In this essay, I offer new perspectives on designing with Plexiglas® within and against the context of capitalism and consider its postmodern condition. It is organized in the following sections: 1) The transparent interface, 2) Desire and the market, 3) “Bad taste” & Resistance, 4) Explosion into Space.

Keywords:

• Plexiglas®
• plexiglass
• transformation
• Umberto Eco
• the open work
• György Kepes
• kitsch
• capitalism
• dialectic

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Grace Ong Yan

Grace Ong Yan, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Interior Design at Thomas Jefferson University. She is an architectural and design historian and theorist whose work investigates intersections of architecture, interior design, and the built environment with media, technology, and business histories. Her principal area of research has been to examine the contradictions and tensions of modern architecture’s engagement with business and capitalism. Dr. Ong Yan is the author of Building Brands: Modern Architecture and Corporations (Lund Humphries, 2021) which details the intertwined development of architecture, advertising, and branding from the late 1920s to the 1960s. She is co-editor of the first and second editions of ARCHITECT: The Pritkzer Prize Laureates in Their Own Words (Blackdog and Levanthal, 2018, 2010) which offers a curated view into the architects’ processes and critical thinking—revealing socio-cultural, political, and economic approaches to design. Dr. Ong Yan’s research on non-western architects includes her featured essay on the Pritzker Prize website “Wang Shu: The Infinite Spontaneity of Tradition,” which explores cultural & regional specificity and place & displacement in the work of Pritzker laureate Wang Shu and his partner Lu Wenyu. Dr. Ong Yan’s extensive writings have appeared in publications ranging from the journal, Design and Culture (Berg) to the book series, The Companions to the History of Architecture, Vol. IV, Twentieth-Century Architecture (Wiley-Blackwell). Email: [email protected]