plastiska

Plastiska is a term used in Scandinavian languages, notably Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian, with two related senses. As an adjective it means plastic in the sense of being moldable or shaped, and in an art-historical context it designates the visual arts that create form in space. In Swedish and neighboring languages, phrases such as plastiska konsterna refer to “the plastic arts,” a traditional grouping that emphasizes modeling, shaping, and tangible form. This classification commonly includes sculpture and architecture and is sometimes extended to painting and drawing, depending on historical period and scholarly tradition. The term is often contrasted with other art-categories in various typologies of art classification.

Etymology traces plastiska to the Greek plastikos ‘able to be molded,’ via Latin plasticus, and it shares its root with the English word plastic. The sense relating to form and molding underpins both the material sense (plastic materials) and the artistic sense (plastic arts).

Usage today is largely scholarly or educational. In everyday language, plastisk serves to describe plastics or plastic-like materials, while plastiska konsterna remains a formal label in art-historical contexts. In English-language discourse, the equivalent expression is “the plastic arts,” used to refer to visual arts that involve shaping form, such as sculpture, architecture, and to some extent painting and drawing, as distinguished from literary or performing arts.

See also: plastic arts, sculpture, architecture, drawing, painting.