* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

New Inventors

I will be on ABC’s New Inventors on Wednesday 5 November. The segment is called Designing the Future.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

ABC Radio National TRENDS on ByDesign

I will be on ABC Radio National By Design program, TRENDS segment.
Wednesday 5 November - approximately 3.30pm

Am really pleased - it really contextualises my practice work leading up to the residency outcomes. Yay!

liminal of or relating to the limen or threshold

liminal is a body of work that has been developed at the threshold of art + science. Leah Heiss has spent the past 10 months working with nanotechnologists to develop wearable works which address the emotional in therapeutic design. The outcome is a collection of jewellery scale artefacts and vessels which are both delicate yet compelling in their curative applications.

Two primary collections will be exhibited during liminal: diabetes + arsenic. diabetes is a range of jewellery which works in tandem with NanoVic’s transdermal patches that allow insulin to be administered through the skin, replacing syringes. arsenic encompasses a series of vessels which act to remove arsenic from water and are designed for people in transit in areas where arsenic is prevalent in well water (e.g. India, Bangladesh, United States).

As an artist Leah is interested in augmenting the emotional relationship between people and their cherished possessions through the agency of nanotechnology. liminal questions how we might ‘enable’

I’ll also present at IMEC in Leuven a couple of days after the conference. IMEC is a leading international nanotechnology research centre which focuses on next generation technologies. They have partnered with Addict Creative Labs to develop the in.tangible.scape.s exhibition and book. This event will be open to the public, the research community and Addict Lab’s extensive creative network.

Material Poetic
In this project I will create jewellery from materials engineered at the nanoscale. As an artist I am interested in augmenting the emotional relationship between people and their cherished possessions through the agency of nanotechnology.

The intimate scale prototypes I will develop utilise materials that exist at the extremes of the poetic spectrum: Aerogel - which is 99.8% air; carbon nanotubes - one of the strongest materials on earth; shape change alloys - which manipulate form when warmed; and magnetic fluids - which change shape in the presence of a magnetic field. Thus the jewellery to be created will defy our understandings of matter and its expected behaviour. It will draw from and intensify ideas of delicacy, longevity, fragility and mutability which intimate jewellery often symbolises.

‘Material Poetic’ will build from an existing body of work that I have developed over the past 8 months as an artist in residency with Nanotechnology Victoria. This current project ‘Subtle Technologies’ has investigated imbuing jewellery with therapeutic applications. My residency has necessitated that I develop new modes of artistic practice. This innovation in tools and techiques will intensify through ‘Material Poetic’ as the materials I will be working with require a completely new arsenal of working methodologies.

Through this project I am seeking to develop a series of small scale artefacts for exhibition in addition to a broad range of less tangible outcomes: innovation in arts practice, new ways of engaging in arts/science
collaborations, the potential demystification of nanotechnologies, and innovation in technical and material processes.

Here is a link to the residency website which is coming together, from here you can download a pdf that shows all the images: Subtle Technologies

Here are a few pics of the finished prototypes. Photography by Narelle Sheean - she comes highly recommended!

 
Images: Left - diabetes applicator + reloader necklace set
Right - stack of diabetes rings

Image: diabetes applicator necklace

 Image: diabetes 2-part ring 

Needless to say the past few weeks have been really chaotic - deadlines tend to bring about this kind of mayhem. I am really happy with the outcomes though and the experience of working with NanoVic and also Catapult Innovations (product engineers on the diabetes project) has been enourmously exciting. There are a whole range of project refinements that need to be thought about to bring these pictured prototypes to their optimum operational ability - however, for the time being I am going to slowly tidy things up and have some much needed time out. Hooray…

At last - I can show the world some pics of the vessel I have been labouring over. After many attempts we have decided that this crazy form is too blobby and resembles a computer mouse too much to register. So - here are some pics. The latest vessel (top pics) is the SLA print that I had done at ARRK in Melbourne. The outcome is really beautiful though the process is costly.

The pics below are some of the works in process. These are plastic prints that show the range of variations I’ve been through. This one is known as the gourd:

Below is the stone model - an early prototype: