Coates, Marcus
Marcus Coates' major installation Dawn Chorus takes on the ambitious task of recreating birdsong using the human voice. Using digital technology, Coates has created a fourteen-screen installation which, much like previous work, explores the similarities between human and animal behavior. Coates, together with wildlife sound recordist, Geoff Sample, spent 576 hours in the Northumberland countryside recording the birdsong of over 15 different species. The birdsong was then manipulated by being slowed down up to 16 times. This enabled 19 singers to imitate and recreate the birds while being filmed in their own natural human, domestic habitats. The films were then returned to normal speed and shown on screens installed at levels corresponding to the natural positions of the birds.
- Artwork Details: running time: 18 minutes
- Edition: 2 of 3 + 2AP
- Material description: multi-channel video installation
- Credit line: © the artist. Commissioned and produced by Picture This and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Funded by the Wellcome Trust.
- Theme:
- Medium: Film and Audio Visual
- Accession number: ACC5/2010