Contextual Research

Marcus Coates

Coates often assumes the identity of an animal, such as a fox, goshawk or stoat, by simulating its appearance, enacting its habits and appropriating its language. In the film, ‘Stoat’ (1999), for example, Coates totters around on ramshackle platforms, learning to recreate the animal’s bounding movements; in ‘Goshawk’ (1999), a telephoto lens captures the artist as a rare bird perched precariously at the top of a tree; while in ‘Finfolk’ (2003), the artist emerges from the North Sea spluttering a new dialect, as spoken by seals.


Coates has also trained as a shaman and the exhibition includes films of his rituals, where he achieves a trance-like state and communes with the animal kingdom to address social issues. Wearing an array of costumes such as a badger’s hide, a stuffed horse’s head, a blonde wig and a necklace of money (all of which will be on display), Coates has addressed issues including prostitution, regeneration and swine flu for communities worldwide and most recently in Israel, Japan and Switzerland.

http://thisistomorrow.info/articles/marcus-coates-psychopomp



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfBgWtAIbRc






Serena Korda

Serena Korda was born 1979 lives and works in London. Through large-scale ensemble performances she reconsiders aspects of communion and tradition in our lives. Underpinning her practice is a desire to find and highlight ritual in the everyday, which is developed through encounters, conversations and the researching of abandoned histories. Audiences are often encouraged to participate at some point in her process creating collective experiences that often focus on the forgotten and overlooked.

http://serenakorda.com/aping-the-beast/