Medium and message

Sweets, bindis, blood, dung. Unusual materials have made their way into cool art, to make you look twice and see the world anew. Here are 10 we love

- By Sulogna Mehta

1 Computer parts.

To us, it's digital trash. To French artist Olivier Lannaud, old keyboards, cables and jacks are the bits and bobs that ultimately create portraits of Psyche, Medusa and Mélos. It's more than clever decoration. Black, white and grey keys create depth within the familiar. The works make you think of the old and the new, mythology and technology. And the unexpected value of an obsolete device.

2 Piles of candy.

In 1991, Cuban-American artist Felix Gonsalez-Torres memorialised his AIDS-affected partner Ross Laycock in an unusual but fitting way. He piled up 175 pounds – Laycock's body weight – of colourful sweets at a gallery, asking viewers to take a piece. The shrinking pile represented his slow collapse and death. Each refresh pile created a new installation, marking memory, perpetuity, continuity of life all at once.

Nanotech particles.