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Marcus Coates
혹등고래 Humpback Whale | 2016 | 9’50”
Courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London
Courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London
Synopsis
In Humpback Whale (2016), Marcus Coates investigates the limits of human vocal expression beneath the surface of water. Deprived of air, he tests how the body might generate sound through restricted breath and physical movement. In this submerged condition, vocalization becomes strained and uncertain, producing sounds that echo, however imperfectly, the calls of sea-dwelling mammals. Presented within The Air Between Us section, the work reflects on how breath, voice, and atmosphere shape the possibility of communication. By placing the human body in an unfamiliar acoustic environment, Coates gestures toward an imagined proximity between human and marine life, suggesting a fragile bridge between species formed through sound and the shared medium of water and air.
About the artist
Marcus Coates is a British artist whose practice explores the limits of human understanding and the possibility of relating to what remains unknowable. His work investigates the potential for forms of shared consciousness, questioning the boundaries of autonomy across species, communities, and individuals. Often working through performance, Coates examines how empathetic perspectives and imagined realities can generate new forms of insight and practical knowledge. Collaboration across disciplines is central to his approach. Coates has worked with a wide range of specialists including anthropologists, ornithologists, wildlife sound recordists, choreographers, politicians, gallerists, curators, psychiatrists, palliative care consultants, musicians, and primatologists. Through these exchanges, his practice creates spaces for dialogue between art, science, and lived experience, encouraging reflection on how humans relate to the wider ecological and social worlds they inhabit.