Leia S. Chang

The accumulation of 1) desire to not be scrolling as often and 2) a lack of time to Build With My Hands has culminated in a rather conspicuous absence from this account. However, I’ve been a busy bee over at @everydayaltar , where my everyday practice has become something of a poetic web exploration. 01. stickey note brain 02. spotlight (reading in the dark) 03. all things change (unexpectedly) 04. biofluorescence 05. alternates (translation errors) 06. on the scale of a day (my companions) leils.github.io/web-sites I do have some other things in the works. I promise I’ll be back.

~* thank you to everyone who stopped by *~ ~* thank you to @grayareaorg for having us *~ I’m incredibly pleased by this latest iteration of my work. For this show, I finally got to try out a kneeling version of the altar, asking the audience to perform this worship action before adding their story. It was better than I could have hoped. If you got a chance to read a story or share one, thank you for being a part of it all.

I’ve been using this video to introduce myself over and over these last few weeks, so i figured it’s time to actually post it here. candle !holder is a candle holder that does not hold candles. It’s obstinant and cheeky (or angry, depending on your interpretation). I love the way it draws out all sorts of responses from people; childish joy, narrow-eyed competitiveness, giddy surprise. This project took me all the way through my time at ITP in many different forms, and I’ll probably continue to revisit it for a long time coming. Pictured here at @theblanc_ny

mixed materials _ analog still reinventing my relationship with this platform but more about these in my ?open studio? on substack

𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐋𝐞𝐢𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠
Creative Code Intensive Instructor ~ Physical Computing
 Leia (they/them) @leia.make took Gray Area’s Creative Code Intensive in 2019, and it helped spark their career in new media creative technology. They’re now an exhibit developer at the Exploratorium @exploratorium , and they organize creative communities and facilitate workshops on making-as-art. This spring, they’re back at Gray Area as a CCI instructor, teaching Physical Computing. In this video, Leia shares what they built in CCI and beyond, and how they approach interactive work that feels playful, eerie, and strangely alive. Their work lives in the space between touch, sensors, and story. If you’ve been curious about building responsive objects with code, electronics, and personality, this is your sign. Creative Code Intensive applications close next week! Have questions? Come meet the instructors in our Open House on February 10. If you attend and decide to enroll, you get 10% off tuition. 💫 The CCI culminates in a public showcase, presenting work to the creative community, museum professionals, and technology industry leaders. 💫 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 (in person) 🗓️ March 3 – May 9, 2026 🕕 Tue & Thu, 6 – 9PM + Sat, 11AM – 3PM 📅 Apply by February 15 🔗 Learn more & apply: link in bio grayarea.org/creative-code-intensive 🎥 editing: @exteeng

This Thursday: a conversation between Vanessa Chang (@allsfairinvanessy ), author of 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝘿𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡, and creative technologist Leia Chang (@leia.make ). How have technologies throughout history extended our senses, and what can this teach us about building better relationships between bodies and machines? From eyeglasses to AI, we’ll dig into the fears, fascinations, and patterns that keep repeating, plus how artists and makers negotiate the shifting line between body, machine, and identity. 🗓️ Thursday, February 5, 2026, 6PM 📍 Gray Area, 2665 Mission St, SF 🎟️ RSVP link in bio!

copper + light sculptural experiments, i’ve had a glowing cube in my head for a while and these little filaments are so cute

get in loser we’re going plastidipping

new year new medium did you know that they make a glass film that’s like transition lenses? and pigments that change color in the sun? i’m rediscovering toys, those capsules that broke open into little sponge toys on the water, the uv bracelets that get vibrant outside

another iteration of In Our Own Words, at @tiat.place i’m fond of the form it’s taken and the changes it’s experienced over the last 4 public showings and i can’t wait to read what is left behind photos from the seminal show gallery opening, 11.7.25

if creative energy is water then it flows, and it needs to be pumped to get it to higher places, and you con’t force its every direction but also if creative energy is water then it also is limited the groundwater isn’t infinite the well can go dry my well isn’t exactly dry, but the limited flow is running through multiple channels, and just dripdripdrip into personal practice and if a channel runs dry it’s so hard to start it back up so in my attempt to wet the channel of personal practice i’ve been deep diving into other peoples’ tools the star of the moment is constant.practice using the same image, over and over, i’m making as many variations as i can in the use of the tools of others i find things that draw me and don’t and feel the urge to rewrite my own tools from scratch to understand them, and make them my own (for another time)