Polarity 2012

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: 'Polarity 2012', a site-specific installation, is the most recent iteration of Leah Heiss' collaborative work with experts in nanotechnology, material science, fashion, microelectronics and manufacturing. The project is an extension of a body of work developed in collaboration with Nanotechnology Victoria during an artist residency in 2007/08 (article attached). The residency was supported by Arts Victoria and the Australian Network for Art and Technology. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: For 'Polarity 2012' Heiss created small glass vessels that housed nano-engineered Ferro fluid. This fluid, one of the few visible nanomaterials, has a range of applications including cornea surgery, mechanics and eletronics. This fluid pulsed in response to the dynamic presence of a magnetic field concealed within the artwork structure. The work extended Heiss' ongoing exploration of the artistic applications of advanced technologies and explores the empathy created between the viewer and the artworks. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: The $75,000 New Media Artist Award is a major national biannual award. The selection committee included GOMA's acting director Suhanya Raffel, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts director Amy Barrett Lennard and multi-award winning new media artist Daniel Crooks. They drew up a long shortlist of 75 potential exhibitors from a field of hundreds of designer-artists. Heiss was one of the eight finalists chosen from this list. More than 250,000 people visited the exhibition (GOMA figures). It was accompanied by a 54-page New Media Art Award book (ISBN 9781921503450) which features Zoe De Luca's short essay on Heiss's work 'Between Art and Science'.