The Internet of Living Things Institute | After decades exploring the untapped potential of the digital and physical waste produced by our so-called technological innovation era—a system built on planned obsolescence, neo-colonial extraction, and the relentless depletion of natural resources, Benjamin Gaulon (Recyclism) has decided to bring the Living into his practice....
Until now, his work has focused on the materiality of the digital: recycling “digital trash,” bending file formats into glitch art, hacking and circuit-bending e-waste to create installations, sculptures, and network-based works. In recent years, with ex-artist Jérôme Saint-Clair, he co-founded the Internet of Dead Things Institute (IoDT) resurrecting so-called “dead media” like the French pre-web technology Minitel into new, functioning systems. This was a form of electronic up-cycling, resisting the extractive violence of conventional recycling processes, and aligning with the principles of Permacomputing.
Building on these experiences, Benjamin has teamed up with Vincent Valéry, a French artist and self-taught botanist. Together they founded the Internet of Living Things Institute (IoLT) a collaborative research platform combining electronic waste with living organisms in symbiotic and sometimes parasitic experiments. IoLT draws from Tech Mining, Solar Punk, and Permacomputing, imagining hybrid ecologies where nature—specifically plants and living systems—interacts with, adapts to, and ultimately reclaims the ruins of the Anthropocene.
