Marcus Coates (b.1968, London; lives London) uses multiple
artistic media - performance, sound and video installations,
photography and sculpture - to explore humans' relations with our
natural surroundings. He is especially interested in the ways in
which humans regard and relate to other species, as a means of
investigating how we see ourselves. He is interested in 'being
animal': what forms animal consciousness can take and how it
connects variously with the human. Key works include Dawn Chorus (2007) in which humans
seem to mimic songbirds, and Journey
to the Lower World (2004), bringing shamanistic practices to
a Liverpool tower block.
Unsurprisingly in view of his earlier work, Coates' journey to the
Galápagos provided him with a wealth of material and inspiration.
He engaged actively with what he encountered, improvising oddly
incisive works on site. Galápagos
Fashions (2008) parodied the showy appeal of Galápagos fauna
as typically (and most often beautifully) presented in nature
magazines, coffee-table books and tourist brochures. Coates himself
cross-dressed in a bright pink frock and posed as if vying for
attention with the iconic giant tortoises. In similar vein, his now
famous work Human Report
(2008) appropriates the format of the nature documentary, turning
the tables by sending a blue-footed booby (Coates in this case
wearing a cardboard costume) to observe human behaviour. The film
of his research was presented on Galápagos television, the news
report from which was in turn incorporated into Coates' final video
artwork.
