The Serpentine Gallery, in collaboration with St. John’s Hospice, London, launches a major new project by UK-based artist Marcus Coates. The film is produced as part of the Serpentine’s ongoing Skills Exchange project and is the result of a long-term residency by Coates at the hospice.
Coates began the project by asking hospice outpatients to suggest ways that vicarious action could enrich their experiences and offered to enact unfulfilled dreams on their behalf. Suggestions ranged from the creation of an exhibition of photography, to a parachute free-fall, to a trip to the Amazon. The last of these requests, made by the late Alex H., was realised by the artist in 2010.
Coates was given precise instructions for the trip. He was asked to travel to an isolated village in the Amazon jungle and to ask the indigenous people a set of prearranged questions. The project was an exchange, Coates offered a way of expanding Alex H’s imaginative world beyond the hospice and in return Alex H. offered Coates a challenge to see the world for someone else.
The Trip presents audio recordings of the conversations between outpatient and artist firstly as they plan the journey and then as they share the memories following Coates’ return.
While Coates’ work is well known for questioning the role of the artist in relation to a range of social issues or problems – often in conjunction with official governmental organisations – in The Trip he develops this central concern through exchanges between individuals, bringing a level of sensitivity and intimacy to the resulting presentation.
Presented in collaboration with St. John’s Hospice.
Press coverage
Marcus Coates is seeing the world through different eyes, London Evening Standard, Tuesday 1 March 2011
Marcus Coates - The Trip at Serpentine Gallery, Spoonfed, Wednesday 9 March 2011
Nancy Spero & Marcus Coates, Serpentine Gallery, The Arts Desk, Monday 14 March 2011
Talks and Events
Marcus Coates, 23 April 2011
Marcus Coates Limited Edition
On the occasion of the first presentation of The Trip by Marcus Coates, the Serpentine Gallery is delighted to present a limited edition print by the artist. This edition is a documentary photograph, taken on Coates’ trip to the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador on behalf of Alex H.
Purchase exclusive Marcus Coates Limited Edition
Skills Exchange
Skills Exchange: Urban Transformation and the Politics of Care is a collaborative project in which artists swap skills and develop ideas for social and architectural change with the elderly, market traders, care workers and young people. Work will be presented in the Artist’s Studio at the Serpentine Gallery in the Sackler Centre of Arts Education at the Serpentine Gallery
Åbäke & Markus Miessen
Westmead Care Home
Barby Asante
Inspire, Southwark
Marcus Coates
St John’s Hospice, Westminster
Beatrice Gibson
Camden Homes Eranda Foundation for Older People
Tom Hunter
Age Concern, Hackney
Further information
Janna Graham, Projects Curator
+44 (0)20 7298 1535
jannag@serpentinegallery.org
The project has been developed in partnership with Age Concern, Westminster Housing and Care Services and Goldsmiths’ Centre for Urban and Community Research.
Marcus Coates
The Trip 2010
Documentary photograph
Courtesy of the artist
Marcus Coates
The Trip 2010
Documentary photograph
Courtesy of the artist
