Leah Heiss is a Melbourne-based artist and designer whose practice is located at the nexus of art, design and science - utilising advanced technologies to develop potent human scale projects. Her process is deeply collaborative - working with experts from nanotechnology through to fashion design. The outcomes include therapeutic jewellery and electronic garments through to hand-held devices and large scale installations. Leah has a passion for next generation materials and her tool kit houses shape memory alloys, magnetic liquid, electroluminescent cable and electricity conducting textiles. Her work has been exhibited widely and presented at conferences and festivals both locally and globally.
Education:
2004-2006
Masters of Design
Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory, RMIT University, Melbourne, AUS
1999-2002
Bachelor of Design (Interior Design)
RMIT University, Melbourne, AUS
1991-1993
BA (Communications)
University of Canberra, AUS
Press:
"Humanising Technology", RMIT Alumni site, November 2009
"Jewellery to Deliver Medicine", Desley Blanch, Radio Australia, Aug 09. Transcript here
"Australian Designer Blends Art, Science, Fashion", Tanalee Smith, ABC News US, 7 May 2009.
Article also featured in the following publications:
Detroit Free Press (USA)
The Record.com
Taiwan news
The Free Library
PR Inside
CBS News
WBBH.com
Hattiesburg American
Charleston Daily Mail (USA)
Globe and Mail Canada (Canada)
Gold.org (UK)
Kelowna Daily Courier (Canada)
C.health California (USA)
The Daily Courier (USA)
Lethbridge Herald (Canada)
Penticton Herald (Canada)
The Spec.com (Canada)
Guelph Mercury (Canada)
Canada East
Yahoo Canada News
Sympatico Canada
MSN news
CNews (Canada)
The Record.com (Canada)
Breitbart.com (USA)
WRal (USA)
Fosters.com (Foster's Daily Democrat - USA)
Citizen.com
Courier Journal (USA)
FortWayne.com (USA)
Philly.com (USA)
Worcester Telegram & Gazette (USA)
newser
North County Times (USA)
Ventura Country Star (USA)
"Stylish science for diabetics", Jared Reed,
6minutes.com.au, 19 May 2009
"Intimate Scale", Ray Edgar, The Age, March 18 2009
"Drug Dispensing Jewellery", Stephen Cauchi, The Age, December 7 2008
"Touching the Intangible", Stefano Siggia, Flanders Today (BE), November 26, 2008
ABC's New Inventors, November 2008, watch segment here (approx. 1 minute)
ABC Radio National By Design, November 2008, Listen here
Feature Article "Ring of Life"
Sydney Morning Herald, 27 August 2008
"Diabetes and Arsenic Jewelry", Tuvie - Design of the Future
"Generating New Creativities", Melinda Rackham, Campus Review, April 2008
"The Nano in Art", Gerd Winter, R+D Review, March edition 2008
Feature Article "Band of Hope"
The Age, November 3, 2007
"Strangely Familiar", Artichoke, Edition 20, Page 56-59
Smart Textiles Educational film,
Video Education Australia,
2007
Conferences:
November 2009
Therapeutic Collaborations
Super Human - Revolution of the Species, Melbourne
October 2008
Therapeutic Collaborations
ArtsHealth Conference, Newcastle, Australia
November 2006
Empathy over distance: Wearables as
tools for augmenting remote emotional connection.
SIGRADI 2006, Santiago, Chile
September 2005
Enabled Apparel: The role of digitally enhanced
apparel in promoting remote empathic connection.
Wearable Futures: Hybrid Culture in the
Design and Development of Soft Technology
University of Wales, Newport, Wales
Publications:
March 2010
Therapeutic Collaborations: Informing the development of therapeutic nanotechnologies through creative practice
Leah Heiss & Dr. Sarah Morgan
Second Nature: International journal of creative media, Vol 2, No 1 (2010)
November 2008
in.tangible.scape.s
Addict Creative Labs, Belgium
March 2007
Under the Skin
716 Magazine, Issue 019
November 2006
Empathy over distance: Wearables as
tools for augmenting remote emotional connection.
SIGRADI 2006, Santiago, Chile
Conference Proceedings
September 2005
Enabled Apparel: The role of digitally enhanced
apparel in promoting remote empathic connection.
Wearable Futures: Hybrid Culture in the
Design and Development of Soft Technology
University of Wales, Newport, Wales
Conference Proceedings
republished in:
AI & Society: Journal of human centred systems & machine intelligence, Volume 22, Number 1/ September, 2007, Springer London, ISSN 0951-5666
Book Chapters:
Bridging the Divide
The Sensuous Intellect, RMIT University Press, 2006
Public Lectures:
April 2011
Within and Without: informing creative practice through the use of next generation materials and processes.
COFA - Art as Lab symposium
Sydney Town Hall, Sydney
April 2011
Diabetes Jewellery
- integrating next-generation therapeutic technologies into cherished personal artefacts
AIA conference Natural Artifice as part of the Young Architects Forum
BMW Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne
May 2009
At the (cutting) edge
Design Island Forum, Hobart, Tasmania
November 2008
Tangible Connections
IMEC, Leuven, Belgium
September 2007
Gentle + Therapeutic Technologies
ReSkin Panel, Newcastle Art Gallery, Electrofringe
April 2007
Subtle Technologies
Casey lecture Theatre, RMIT University, Australia
January 2007
Plastic Perception + Socio-technical Agency
reSKin Wearable Technologies Laboratory, School of Art, Canberra, Australia
May 2006
Intuitive linkage + empathic connection through wearable apparatus
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
March 2006
Enabling Garments
The Light Fantastic Seminar Series: The convergence of technology and textiles.
RMIT Textiles and Technology, Melbourne, Australia
Grants:
November 2010
Design Research Institute Funding ($5200)
Conductive Spaces
August 2008
SRC Grant: Embodied Interaction Design/Synthetic Environments ($13,500)
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
August 2008
Australia Council Visual Arts Grant:Material Poetic ($10,000)
April 2008
RMIT Design Institute Grant: Emotional Technologies ($2000)
September 2007
Arts Victoria AIR (Artist in Residency) Grant with Nanotechnology Victoria
($41,805 including in-kind contributions)
May 2007
SRC Grant: Embodied Interaction Design ($8000)
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
September 2006
Emerging Researcher Grant ($5600)
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
2004 - 2006
Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) ($38,000)
Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
