Conductive Matter Through Material Methods

This paper presents Inert Matter (2022), an experimental art exhibition investigating technological tactile and affective dimensions. The project is centred around the reactivation of discarded touchscreens to transform e-waste into interactive artworks using conductive threads, diodes and the embodied participation of audiences. Through a practice-led research methodology, the work challenges the assumed obsolescence of broken digital surfaces and repositions them as sites of sensory engagement and speculative intimacy. Drawing on new materialist philosophy and interaction theory, the project reframes touch as both a material encounter and a political gesture – one that resists the habitual flattening of sensory experience in digital culture. By foregrounding the electric vitality of both human and non-human matter, Inert Matter proposes alternative ways of sensing, interacting with and rethinking technological intimacy in the age of disposability.