Manikins for Destruction: Untitled (V.W. Dummy) 1970

Curator: This unsettling image is part of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi’s series, "Manikins for Destruction," focusing on a VW crash test dummy. It invites reflection on postwar anxieties about technology and consumerism. Editor: There’s a stark, brutal quality to it. The raw materials, the metallic dummy… it all feels so industrial and cold. Makes you think about the labor involved in producing…well, destruction. Curator: Precisely. Paolozzi often explored the intersection of mass production and human vulnerability. The dummy becomes a symbol of our disposable culture, a casualty of progress. Editor: The printmaking process itself, the monochrome and grainy texture, reinforces that sense of disposability, like a blueprint for something that is meant to be used and then discarded. Curator: It’s a stark reminder that technological advancement can often come at a human cost, a theme prevalent in postwar art. Editor: Ultimately, Paolozzi encourages us to consider the relationship between materiality, progress, and the inherent risks embedded in our technological world.