Hannah Drayson,
Transtechnology Research,
Room B312 Portland Square,
University of Plymouth,
Drake Circus,
Plymouth,
PL4 8AA.
Gestalt Biometrics and their Applications.
Funded by the European Science Research Council (EPSRC).
Gestalt Biometrics is a cross-disciplinary project which combines a philosophical analysis with a computer science and engineering design approach, informed by perspectives from both arts and humanities and computer science. The research focus is upon biofeedback technologies, a group of sensors and methodologies which include a range of physiological instruments.
The intention of the project is to elucidate a critical and practice based response to the paradigms which surround contemporary sensing technologies as they are applied to the body. Rather than approach these instruments at face value, as objective devices, the project surveys disciplines such as philosophy, science and technology studies, health psychology, parapsychophysiology and medical anthropology to look for alternative models of the human body that might be compatible with these technologies.
Background
Hannah’s BA in Critical Fine Art Practice (CFAP), a contemporary art program at Brighton University, allowed her to produce work in a wide range of media, including digital media, installation and graphics. The program’s emphasis upon and integration of critical theory and practice, encouraged her to develop a series of practice based interventions intended to elucidate certain philosophical issues which related to her interest in science, technology and consciousness.
Her degree show featured a number of works such as, A+B Course (2003) and Drawing with the Inside of the Brain (2003) which attempted to assess the role of the artist with regards to high technology and medical science, re-casting the art student as an experimental subject whose creative abilities could be measured, augmented or treated.
Hannah joined Plymouth University’s Digital Art and Technology Program in 2005, completing her Msc Digital Art and Technology in 2006. During this period she embarked on a range of projects which explored the use of computing in creative practices, such as Your Software (2006), a program intended to provide a personal computer with free will.
Papers and PublicationsCurriculum Vitae