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Journey
to the Lower World
by Marcus Coates
Edited by Alec Finlay Journey to the Lower World is a shamanic
performance by Marcus Coates, after a traditional Siberian Yakut ritual.
Edited by Alec Finlay, the book features a DVD by Marcus Coates, photographs
by Nick David and writings by Mark Wallinger and JJ Charlesworth.
Journey is an album of words and images reflecting on human
and animal consciousness in the contemporary world - how ancient forms
of knowledge, healing and spirituality are adapted to fill a void. Marcus
Coates has insistently considered our relationship to nature: where in
previous projects he has adopted the techniques of scientific observation,
in Journey he embodies the role of the ‘shaman’ to create
a colourful collision of life in a working class Liverpool Tower block
and new age spirituality: The work treads a fine line between pathos
and bathos. It is touching because it has enacted the fears and vulnerability
of audience, which are real enough if ultimately unknowable, and finds
its own strange way to an image of hope for them to take away. (Mark
Wallinger)
Interview
Alec Finlay and Marcus Coates.
Bookshop
Purchase Journey to the Lower World
Photographs
© 2004 Nick David, Ben Coode-Adams and Marcus Coates.
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