Marcus Coates
The Directors, 2022
Marcus Coates’ work examines the degrees to which we can understand, know, and relate to others. In doing so, he uses radical empathy as a motivational tool to examine and critique relational processes, and to even create innovative ways of connecting.
The Directors is comprised of five short films that result from an extensive period of collaborative research and discussion between Coates and five individuals in recovery from psychosis. Each of these people directed a film in which Coates restaged and inhabited highly personal episodes from their own lives.
There are descriptions of being locked in one’s own mind in everyday life, of microphones being hidden within trees, and of being force-fed water despite not wanting to drink. Choosing a location of personal significance, these five people (Mark, Lucy, Anthony, Marcus, and Stephen) each sat behind the camera while Coates performed in front of it, embodying their respective experiences.
Coates embraces a working process that essentially becomes a creative dialogue. It is a shared attempt at challenging the stigma associated with volatile mental health and encouraging an understanding of different realities. Indeed, from Coates’s attempts to become animal, to his efforts in enacting the experiences of others, his work questions not how much we can empathise with people but how we can begin to try.
The Directors is produced by Artangel and commissioned with Art Fund Support. With special thanks to the Executive Producers for their generosity: Andrew Abdulezer, Martine d’Anglejan-Chatillon, James Brett, Robert Devereux, Gerry Fox, Gabriela Galcerán Ball, Kate MacGarry, Gabrielle Rifkind and Jonathan Levy, The Sigrid Rausing Trust, and those who wish to remain anonymous.
Marcus Coates (b.1968, London) is an artist and amateur naturalist based in London. He studied at the Kent Institute of Art and Design in 1990 and the Royal Academy of Art, London, in 1993. From his attempts to become animal to his vicarious experiences on behalf of people, his work offers an inquiry into the degrees to which we can understand, know, and relate to others. Often performative — using a process of radical empathy as motivation to create, examine, and critique relational tools — he tests actual and perceived boundaries between individuals, within communities, and with other species. New ways of relating are proposed and often put into practice. His approach is often functional and keeps a social and ecological impact in mind. Coates has collaborated with people from a wide range of disciplines including anthropologists, ornithologists, wildlife sound recordists, choreographers, politicians, psychiatrists, palliative care consultants, musicians, and primatologists, amongst others.
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Bergen Kunsthall
Rasmus Meyers allé 5
5015 BergenTuesday–Wednesday: 11:00–17:00
Thursday: 11:00–20:00
Friday–Sunday: 11:00–17:00
Throughout the Bergen Assembly each film will be shown for a period of 10 days:
11.09–21.09
The Directors: Mark
(27 minutes and 16 seconds)
22.09–04.10
The Directors: Lucy
(21 minutes and 24 seconds)
05.10–17.10
The Directors: Anthony
(25 minutes and 18 seconds)
18.10–30.10
The Directors: Marcus
(16 minutes and 51 seconds)
31.11–09.11
The Directors: Stephen
(16 minutes and 57 seconds)
Guidance note:
The films contain scenes that some viewers may find distressing. Personal experiences are discussed across all the films. These include psychosis, hearing voices, paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, intrusive thoughts, obsessive-compulsive disorder, suicide, self-harm, and anxiety. Some of the films also contain strong language and sexual references. Viewer discretion and breaks in viewing are advised.
Aldersgrense:
Reference for phone numbers to call and recourses in Bergen
Resourses mental health in Norway:
Do you need someone to talk to?
There are several helplines, chat services, and support groups where you can share thoughts and feelings completely anonymously, and receive support, advice, and guidance.
Mental Helse: 116 123
Kirkens SOS: 22 40 00 40
Livskrisehjelpen,
Bergen kommune: 55 56 87 54
For students:
Sammen – Psykisk helse:
55 96 88 44
For children:
Alarmtelefonen for barn og unge: 116 111
Kors på halsen (drevet av Røde Kors):
800 333 21
Here you will find several helplines, chat services, and support groups (ung.no) that can be helpful when you are going through a difficult time.
For pårørende:
Landsforeningen for Pårørende innen psykisk helse:
22 49 19 22