Location: VARIOUS

“Consumer goods are meant to be used up and to disappear; the idea of temporariness and transitoriness is intrinsic to their very denomination as objects of consumption; consumer goods have memento mori written all over them, even if with an invisible ink.”

Zygmunt Bauman

Bit rot is a colloquial term used in the computerized information systems environment to indicate the gradually decaying of data stored on storage medias or software over the duration of time.

In this case, the concept is transposed from a virtual reality, made of bit and software, to a material one, made of real people, things and places.

This reality is the research subject of the BITROT Project. Through photographic documentation, the project follows the international movements of the e-waste, providing evidence of illegal commerce and disposal and tells the stories of those who are involved, but also underlines green and sustainable alternatives that in many countries have already been adopted.

ABOUT VALENTINO BELLINI

Valentino Bellini (1984) is a freelance photographer based in Barcelona.

He graduated in photography at CFP R.Bauer of Milan in 2010.

Valentino worked at Linke. lab in Milan from 2011 to 2013 specialising in fine art printing and image processing.

His work has been featured on The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Financial Times and Al Jazeera among others. In 2015 and 2016 he was nominated for the World Press photo Joop Swart Masterclass. His photographic series covering the social crisis following the kidnapping of 43 students in Ayotzinapa, Mexico, was screened at the VISA Pour l’Image Festival 2015 in Perpignan.

In 2015 Valentino co-founded Minimum, a space for photography and a printing lab in Palermo, Sicily, and co-directed it till its closure in 2022.