As part of our second cohort of resident musicians, Anti.net, a punk rap and art collective from East and South East London, spent six months exploring the Horniman’s collections and working with our curatorial, community engagement and digital teams. During their residency, Anti.net created a groundbreaking EP that reimagines the relationship between past and future sounds. Drawing inspiration from the Horniman’s diverse instrument collection, the project repurposes forgotten instruments and overlooked musical styles through modern electronic production, going beyond traditional sampling to place them in a futuristic context.
The finale for Anti.net’s residency, the Cyberdance Late, was planned to take place at the Horniman in March 2025. Due to a protest organised by Gaza Biennale-Jinnaah UK to coincide with the Late, against the handling of a pilot artist residency in 2023 and one of our funders, and which was not directed towards Anti.net or their residency, Anti.net decided to withdraw from the event due to the sensitivity surrounding the issue. We entirely respected and supported their decision.
Since March, the Horniman has been in conversation with Anti.net and other partners who expressed concerns related to the protest, and with SWANA community members, and we thank them for their feedback and their openness. Partner input has led to important reflection and dialogue about how the Horniman facilitates spaces for critical engagement with collections, and has informed a statement about working with our Palestinian and wider South-West Asian and North African (SWANA) collections.
We are committed to transparency with partners and contributors. This includes that the Horniman has received criticism, sharing how we have been embedding expertise in community-led, participatory practices to support those working with us, and where our funding comes from. As part of the Musicians in Residence programme, Anti.net’s residency continues to be funded solely from the Museum of the Year prize money awarded to the Horniman by Art Fund in 2022.
We will be working with Anti.net to present their CyberDance live event in early 2026. During the planning, we are committed to supporting their free response to the Horniman’s collection, connecting it with their own ideas and creative responses. The residency will culminate in a multi-sensory experience featuring live music, DJ sets, immersive artworks, and a gaming lounge, transforming the Gallery Square space into a vision of the future.