Active Ingredient is an award winning artist-led collective, originally founded by Rachel Jacobs,Matt Watkins, Gareth Howell and Zini Pandya in 1996, later joined by Robin Shackford. From 1996 – 2013 Active Ingredient created interactive artworks that toured nationally and internationally, they were pioneers of digital and web art in the early days of the internet, creating a precursor to YouTube through their live streaming video channels developed between 1999-2007 and their early locative mobile phone games, developed with the Mixed Reality Lab and Hewlett Packard from 2005-2007.
In 2013 the original collective of Active Ingredient ended, whilst they each continued making artworks, cooking, writing, lecturing, teaching, designing, making, researching, being part of communities and engaging communities.
Active Ingredient & When The Future Comes, 2025 – 2026
In 2024, Active Ingredient returned in a new guise as a constituted not-for-profit organisation.
They have began an archiving project of their pioneering interactive artworks and hosting a series of new projects, including the longitudinal and ambitious ‘When The Future Comes’ project, exploring the themes of sustainability, how we can thrive in the future in response to the twin crisis of climate change and the impacts of digital technology.
Active Ingredient works regularly with communities, artists, musicians, technology developers, organisations and academics in rural and urban environments across the UK.
Key Artworks 2007-2013
Key Artworks 2000-2006
Key Artworks 1996-2000