Description:
Artist James Beckett shines light on inventor Max Himmelheber, who modernised particleboard. Originally an act of frugality, Himmelheber bound the waste of sawmills with phenol resin, resulting in a highly versatile, stable product. Also known as chipboard, this material has spawned a love-hate relationship due its disposability, and more recently discovered environmental impact. Almost pre-empting the material's pitfalls, Himmelheber turned his attention to a set of philosophical writings on humanity's role in an industrialised world, displaying a culturally conservative distrust of unchecked technical progress. His character permeates these pages, as we learn of his multiple intersections of boy scouting, Shintoism and environmentalism. Through a historical account of this little-known figure, The Sceptical Structures of Max is as much a lucid memento mori as a call to reimagine our relation to the environment. The book includes a contribution by and conversation with Dirk van Weelden