Heidi Gautrey
Heidi (they/she) is a creative technologist playing with immersive art, theatre and games. Their practice is tactile, interactive and playful, combining game design and performance to reimagine how we use technology.
Howling at the Moon, Photography by Amie Cliffen: https://amiecliffen.com/
Trained in drama at the University of Birmingham, Heidi (they/she) now brings a theatrical approach to immersive and interactive work. As a director and performer, they strived to extend play to audiences, bringing a love of games to live performance. They continued to study at UWE in their course on Virtual and Extended Realities, where they developed technical skills in Unity and Arduino to support this practice. Heidi is now investigating how motion capture can be used in their work, and the implications of this technology on transgender bodies.
Heidi's work is invested in queer methodologies, especially in consideration of glitch feminism and feminist technoscience practices. By reimagining the boundaries of possibility with technology, Heidi aims to provide tools of glitch to audiences, to allow better understanding of systems of control and capital, and to find joy in breaking those systems. The work asks audiences to consider the influence of technology in new ways, especially to empower them to reimagine boundaries of power through play.
In their spare time, Heidi enjoys crochet, baking and improv comedy. They can often be found performing at the Bristol Improv Theatre and in troupes around the city. If they offer you a cookie it might be delicious, knitted, or imaginary.