The Anthill Social

Tom Keene works as The Anthill Social

His work focuses on the intersection of technology, social interaction and participation. He engages with open source software, hardware platforms and most importantly, people. With multi-diciplinary work ranging from hi-tech sensor driven environments and reactive video/robotic installations, to live-art/drama projects in community settings.

A background in Fine Art photography (Edinburgh 1994), positioned Tom within the sphere of digital media at a time of intense technological excitement, surrounding the .com bubble of the late 1990's. Funding opportunities within large-scale public/cultural sector IT projects, introduced a vision of a technological utopia, that lacked understanding of social impact.

A desire to integrate a socially aware perspective is fundamental to this work. Ideas surrounding the impact of social media, technology and collaboration, inform the development of participatory arts projects with diverse groups in socially deprived areas. These projects primarily exist outside traditional arts spaces and audiences and find their roots in 1960's social movements and DIY culture of the 1990's rave scene.

Current and recent and work includes: Sam The Wheels a participatory video project, publication and exhibition. This used unique film footage of Brixton shot between the 1960's and 1980's by Clovis Salmon, a first generation Jamaican immigrant who arrived in London in the 1950's (HLF & ACE funded). Bacteria 2.0 in Dublin Science Gallery, explores the layers of complexity both in both digital and organic communications networks (Welcome Trust). The Higher Education Funding Council for England funds a continuing collaboration with Sussex University at their InQbate lab, a investigation into how a technology-rich environments can inform the creative process.

See the links section for a list of collaborators.