Marcus Coates
Marcus Coates is a contemporary artist and ornithologist living in London. His works, including performances and installations that have been recorded as video art, employ shamanistic rituals in communication with "the lower world", and contrast natural and man-made processes.
Marcus Coates

Ymnes (talk) · File:NS_heide_en_rups.JPG · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Marcus Coates
- Born
- 1968
- Birthplace
- London, United Kingdom
- Field
- * Conceptual art
- Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Occupation
- painter
- Honours
- Daiwa Foundation Art Prize
- Languages
- English
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Marcus Coates is a contemporary artist and ornithologist living in London. His works, including performances and installations that have been recorded as video art, employ shamanistic rituals in communication with "the lower world", and contrast natural and man-made processes.
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wikidata · Q11935286 · wikipedia · Marcus Coates
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Marcus Coates • Born — 1968 • Birthplace — London, United Kingdom • Field — * Conceptual art • performance art • shamanism • Works — Journey to the Lower World (2004) The Plover’s Wing (2009) "The Directors"(2022) • Website — https: www.marcuscoates.co.uk
Career
Career
Coates was born in 1968 in London, UK. He graduated from the Kent Institute of Art and Design in 1990 and completed his MA at the Royal Academy Schools, London, in 1993. Some of his work has focused on housing in Elephant and Castle, South London, including a film (Vision Quest – a Ritual for Elephant & Castle) and an on-stage trance in 2009. In 2013 Coates was a shortlisted for the Fourth plinth, Trafalgar Square artwork (2015/16). His proposal for the fourth plinth commission is to cast and install a replica of the "Eagle Rock" at Brimham Rocks in Yorkshire, UK. In 2022 Coates was commissioned by Artangel to make The Directors — five films made in collaboration with individuals with lived experiences of psychosis. Coates has exhibited extensively internationally since 1999 including Altermodern, the Tate Triennial and Kunsthalle Zurich in 2009 and "Super 8" at the Museum of Modern Art Rio de Janeiro and "Galápagos" at the Centro de Arte Moderna in Lisbon, Portugal in 2013.
Notable exhibitions
Notable exhibitions
• 2022 "The Directors", Artangel, London • 2013 "Anchorhold – Meetings with Marcus Coates", Hai arts, Island of Hailuoto, Finland • 2013 "Follow the Voice, City in the City", Canary Wharf Screen, Art on the Underground, London. • 2012 "Proxy", Kate MacGarry, London, UK • 2012 "Marcus Coates", Workplace Gallery, Gateshead, UK • 2012 "Dawn Chorus", Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Wales, UK • 2012 "Follow The Voice", Canary Wharf, Screen, London, UK • 2012 "Vision Quest: a ritual for Elephant & Castle", Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre, London • 2012 "Stories from the Lower World", South Alberta Art Gallery, Canada • 2012 "Eva International Biennial of Visual Art", Limerick City, Ireland • 2011 "Skills Exchange: Urban Transformation and the Politics of Care, a project for the Process Room at the Serpentine Gallery", London • 2011 "The Trip", Serpentine Gallery, London • 2010 "Implicit Sound", ESPAI 13, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona • 2010 "Questions & Answers", Kate MacGarry, London • 2010 Port Eliot Festival, Cornwall (performance) • 2010 "Psychopomp", Milton Keynes Gallery • 2009 Altermodern, Tate Britain, London • 2009 "Marcus Coates", Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (performance) • 2009 "Marcus Coates", Kunsthalle Zurich – Parallel Space (exhibition and performance) • 2009 "The Plover's Wing", Workplace Gallery, Gateshead • 2008 "Marcus Coates", NOMA New Orleans Museum of Art • 2008 "Marcus Coates", Kunsthalle Zurich – Parallel Space (exhibition and performance)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1968
Marcus Coates was born on 1 January 1968.
Publications
In 2001, Grizedale Arts published the eponymous book Marcus Coates, based on his residency at Grizedale Arts in 1999. This was followed by The Trip which was published by Koenig Books, and documents his installation at the Serpentine Gallery, London in 2011.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Marcus Coates”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q11935286: Marcus Coates
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Jonathan Griffin. Marcus Coates. Frieze.com. June–August 2007.
- 2.Marcus Coates Artist Royal Academy of Arts. www.royalacademy.org.uk.
- 3.Tom Lamont. Marcus Coates: 'Eventually something serious comes through'. The Observer. 8 April 2012.
- 4.London's Fourth plinth: Six new contenders unveiled. BBC News. 24 September 2013.
- 5.The Directors. www.artangel.org.uk.
- 6.Tate. Altermodern Tate Britain.
- 7.Serpentine Galleries. The Trip.
- 8.The Directors. www.artangel.org.uk.
- 9.MARCUS COATES 'Proxy', KateMcGarry.com. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
- 10.Dawn Chorus The Arts Council Collection. artscouncilcollection.org.uk.
- 11.Tate. Altermodern Tate Britain.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
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General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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