The Directors is a collaboration between artist Marcus Coates and five individuals with lived experience of psychosis. Following a prolonged period of research and development, each directed Coates in a film where he attempted to enact their experiences. Mark Banham, Lucy Dempster, Anthony Donohoe, Marcus Gordon, and Stephen Groves each chose a place of significance where they directed Coates to play themselves as they voiced instructions off camera.
Commissioned by Artangel in London, UK and originally screened in five locations in and around Churchill Gardens Estate in the London borough of Pimlico, Te Tuhi's collaboration with Artangel mirrors the same format and presents the project in five central Auckland locations with one the five films being screened in each location. The presentation is in association with Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival 2024.
Coates' research began in 2017 at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust where he worked alongside psychiatrist Dr Isabel Valli, observing her consultations with patients. The focus of his research considered the dynamics of personal understanding and empathy and the role of the wider community and public attitudes.
The Directors seeks to establish a creative and reciprocal dialogue between Coates and each director; a shared attempt to describe and understand the individuality and complexity of their experiences. For both Coates and the directors, initiating this empathetic process was motivated by a need to share the directors’ stories, together with the necessity to confront and reduce public stigma around psychosis.
An opening event for The Directors will be held from 4.30pm at Toi Ora Live Art Trust on Saturday 24 February 2024. For more information, visit the event page here.
The Directors: Stephen
Directed by Stephen Groves
Single channel HD video on loop, projection
16 minutes and 57 seconds
Location: Toi Ora Live Art Trust
6 Putiki Street, Grey Lynn, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland 1021.
Step-free access to ground floor with accessible toilet.
For a short preview of the film, information about the director’s story and interviews click here.
The Directors: Lucy
Directed by Lucy Dempster
Single channel HD video on loop, projection
21 minutes and 24 seconds
Location: Yellow Brick Road
423 Great North Road, Grey Lynn, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland 1021.
Step-free access with accessible toilet.
For a short preview of the film, information about the director’s story and interviews click here.
The Directors: Mark
Directed by Mark Banham
Single channel HD video on loop, projection
27 minutes and 16 seconds
Location: DEMO
3 Water Street, Grafton, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland 1023.
Step-free access with accessible toilet.
For a short preview of the film, information about the director’s story and interviews click here.
The Directors: Anthony
Directed by Anthony Donohoe
Single channel HD video on loop, projection
25 minutes and 18 seconds.
Location: Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery
40 St Paul Street, CBD, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland 1010.
Step-free access to ground floor with accessible toilet and accessible lift to the 5th floor.
For a short preview of the film, information about the director’s story and interviews click here.
The Directors: Marcus
Directed by Marcus Gordon
Single channel HD video on loop, projection
16 minutes and 51 seconds
Location: Parnell Project Space
Parnell Station, 25 Cheshire Street, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
Step-free access with accessible toilet.
For a short preview of the film, information about the director’s story and interviews click here.
For an interactive map showing venue locations please click here →
About Marcus Coates
Marcus Coates lives and works in London. Through 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 a 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 with 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.
His recent exhibitions include: The Limits of Humanity, Musée de l’Homme, Paris, 2021; The World is in You, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, 2021; Joseph Beuys and the Shamans, Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau, Germany 2021; The Animal that therefore I am, OCAT Institute, Beijing, China, 2020; The Land We Live In, The Land We Left Behind, Hauser & Wirth Somerset 2018; Functional Improvisation with percussionist Terry Day, William Morris Museum, 2017; As Above, So Below, IMMA, Dublin, 2017; Ape Culture, HKW Berlin, 2015; The Trip, Serpentine Gallery, London and Implicit Sound, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, 2011; Psychopomp, Milton Keynes Gallery, 2010; Marcus Coates, Kunsthalle, Zurich, Switzerland, 2009.
Find out more at www.marcuscoates.co.uk
Further Understanding
www.whatsgoingon.org.uk is a free online resource hub, developed by Artangel alongside The Directors to host additional materials and resources for using the films as a tool for teaching and training. Resources include audio and video interviews with the artist and directors, conducted on set to capture their immediate reflections on the production process and experiences of the project.
Additional material available includes:
Marcus Coates & The Directors: In Conversation
Hear Marcus Coates in conversation with the five directors, discussing each film and their experiences. The conversation was moderated by writer and psychologist Professor Charles Fernyhough. Recorded in London in August 2022.
Is Anyone Out There Listening?
A discussion on social inequality, neglect, adversity and isolation with psychiatrist and poet Femi Oyebode and mental health campaigner Fiona Malpass. The conversation was moderated by Akiko Hart, CEO, National Survivor User Network. Recorded at Pimlico Academy, London in September 2022.
A Conversation on Recovery
A recording of Marcus Coates in conversation with the five directors discussing recovery and their recovery journey. The conversation took place a year on from the production process and was joined by mental health carer, Kerry Joseph.
For Helplines and crisis contacts click here
Artangel
Artangel produces and presents extraordinary art in unexpected places in the UK, and beyond. For over 30 years, Artangel has generated some of the most talked-about art of recent times, including projects with Jeremy Deller, PJ Harvey, Roger Hiorns, Michael Landy, and Rachel Whiteread.
Appearing anywhere from empty prisons to underground vaults, daytime TV to the sky at night, Artangel produces art that takes on many different forms and appears in many different places.
The Directors is part of The Artangel Collection, an initiative to bring outstanding film and video works, commissioned and produced by Artangel, to galleries and museums across the UK and internationally. The Artangel Collection has been developed in partnership with Tate, is generously supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and The Foyle Foundation and uses public funding from Arts Council England.
The Directors is produced by Artangel and commissioned with Art Fund Support. Supported by The Executive Producers and Artangel’s Guardian Angels. Artangel is a registered charity (No. 292976).
For more information, please visit: artangel.org.uk
About the Venues
Toi Ora Live Art Trust
Enhancing well-being through creativity, Toi Ora offers a nurturing and inclusive space for individuals navigating mental distress. With over 20 classes spanning visual and performing arts, participants are invited to engage deeply in the creative journey, using artistic expression as a conduit for connecting. Original artworks are showcased in our gallery. Join our supportive community and together, let's prioritise mental wellness through the power of creation.
Yellow Brick Road
For 40 years, Yellow Brick Road have been providing nationwide support, knowledge and advocacy for whānau who have a loved one experiencing mental health challenges. We acknowledge the integral part that whānau play as the largest mental health provider in Aotearoa.
DEMO
A multi-purpose project space sponsored by Whitecliffe College. Based in Grafton, Tāmaki Makaurau, DEMO supports postgraduate School of Fine Arts students and faculty to present exhibitions, develop studio practice and hold arts events as part of their research.
Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery
Sitting within the Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies, Auckland University of Technology’s gallery is dedicated to the development of contemporary art and design through a curated programme of exhibitions, events, symposia and publications focused both locally and internationally.
Parnell Project Space
Te Tuhi's Parnell Project Space is an exhibition, performance and event space located on the platform at Parnell Train Station, Tāmaki Makaurau. Parnell Project Space engages with contemporary curators and artists who have an interest in experimental and social practices, providing an environment in which artists and curators can develop their practices and expand their networks.