Heather Raikes is an artist, designer and creative leader catalyzing next-generation sensory experiences. She is founder | director of Creative Research Studios, and creator of Neopoetics® and Neoflow Motion™.
Heather Raikes' creative work is uniquely rooted in the body, and in the design of transformative convergences between corporeality and emerging technocultural systems. Raikes began her career as a modern dancer with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, a premise she expanded into emerging media – probing future-focused culture, art, and technology through the lens of the body. Her artwork has been presented throughout the world at venues such as HEREArt (New York), Lincoln Center (New York), The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), LeCube (Paris), Culturgest (Lisbon), The International Festival of Performance (Barcelona), Di-Egy Festival (Cairo), San Diego Museum of Art (San Diego), On the Boards (Seattle).
As a designer, Heather Raikes has made groundbreaking creative contributions to emerging media in roles ranging from founding partner of first-generation Web collective Media Farm to Principal Creative Director at Microsoft Mixed Reality Studios. Her creative direction and design work has received numerous honors, including a Digital Innovation Emmy Award, exhibition at the Tokyo Olympics, and an Oculus Launch Pad fellowship. Raikes has directed design for a wide spectrum of emerging media experiences and applications, and has delivered design leadership presentations at forums such as LDV Vision Summit, IxDA Interaction Conference, VRLA, and Creative Mornings.
Heather Raikes develops and drives creative research as systematic methodology for catalyzing innovation. Her atelier, Creative Research Studios, forges transformative, next-generation experiences through future-focused art, design, and embodiment research. Raikes has led creative research initiatives for product, design and engineering teams, and has developed design patterns to chart nascent possibilities presented by emerging media. She has also catalyzed cross-disciplinary research and innovation in faculty and leadership roles at Temple University, University of California San Diego, and University of Washington. Documentation of her creative research has been presented globally, and published in the International Journal of Art, Culture, Design, and Technology (IJACDT); Technoetic Arts; American Communication Journal; and Body, Space & Technology.
Raikes holds a PhD in Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS) from the University of Washington, an MPS from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), and an AB from Duke University. Raikes conducted postdoctoral research with the Planetary Collegium through the Centre for Advanced Inquiry in the Integrative Arts (CAiiA), Plymouth University, UK.
Heather Raikes’ multi-dimensional career journey is defined by a passion for probing, discovering, and creating next-generation experiences that awaken, amplify and redefine human potential.