MARCUS COATES

Born 1968 in London, England. Lives and works in London.

Marcus Coates, Pub Shaman, Lamp Tavern, Birmingham, UK 2007. Produced in association with Insertspace, UK. Courtesy the artist and Workplace Gallery, UK

In his work, rather like Joseph Beuys, Marcus Coates takes on the role of a shaman, a nomadic magician and healer. But whereas Beuys approached this role metaphorically, invoking the Tartar tribesmen whom he said had saved him from a plane crash during the Second World War, Coates takes a more literal tack, transporting himself to the ‘lower world’ of animals in atavistic performances in which he dresses in animal skins or sports stuffed creatures on his head. These works are throwbacks to a time when ritualistic acts called upon animal spirits as a form of guidance. In contemporary scenarios, he works himself into a transported state so as to read animal signs and communicate with their spirits in order to gain insight into an existing problem, offering his services as a medium for the public to address issues. In previous works, he has performed shamanistic rituals for the residents of a Liverpool tower block facing demolition, engaged with the Israeli/Palestinian crisis, and communicated with animals to approach the problem of an influx of prostitutes into a Norwegian city.

Voice and enunciation are central to Coates’ shamanistic rituals. He reaches towards a plane of understanding through the manipulation of his own voice in repetitive, staggered, animalistic cadences: yelping, hooting, howling. Through these animal noises, Coates removes his own persona from the scene: his educated and ‘civilised’ behaviour and dress is abandoned as the first castaway in a journey to the lower world. Through communicating with the animals, new and heretofore unavailable solutions to contemporary problems can be accessed and gifted to the communities around him.

A Ritual for Elephant and Castle (2010) is based on a live musical performance by Coates and London-based music collective Chrome Hoof that took place in 2009. The collaboration was a response to plans for the redevelopment of London’s Elephant and Castle area and intended as a functional civic rite. In the lead-up to the event, Coates, accompanied by a stuffed buzzard and a trombone, spent time with residents, businesses, developers, and the local council, gaining insight with which to serve this community in time of transition. In Coates’ new installation, footage of the concert is projected alongside monitors showing short films of the artist in sometimes comical yet sincere service to the area’s inhabitants.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2010 ‘Skills Exchange: Urban Transformation and the Politics of Care’, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
2009 ‘Marcus Coates’, performance, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2009 ‘Marcus Coates’, Kunsthalle Zurich, Parallel Space, Switzerland
2008 ‘This Wild Melody’, performance, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK
2007 ‘Pub Shaman’, performance, The Lamp Tavern, Birmingham, UK

Selected Group Exhibitions

2009 ‘Altermodern’, Tate Triennial, Tate Britain, London, UK
2008 Manifesta 7, European Biennial of Contemporary Art, Trento, Italy
2008 ‘Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art’, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK
2007 ‘The Hamster Wheel’, 52nd Venice Biennale, Arsenale, Venice, Italy
2005 ‘British Art Show 6’, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (touring exhibition)

Selected Bibliography

Max Andrews, Marcus Coates: In Profile, Picture This, Bristol, 2007
Ohad Fishof, ‘Spirits in the Community. An interview with Marcus Coates’, Studio, issue 172, January–February 2008, pp. 32–36
Rachel Hazelwood, ‘Waterlog: The Rings of Saturn’, Aesthetica, issue 27, February–March 2009, pp. 48–49
Mark Wallinger, Alec Finlay and JJ Charlesworth, Journey to the Lower World, Platform Projects, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2003
Tracey Warr, Marcus Coates, Grizedale Books, Coniston, 2002