Marcus Coates (British, b. 1968)

Dawn Chorus, 2007

multi-channel video installation, run time 18 min.

July–November, 2010 | 21c Museum (US premiere) 

Curated by William Morrow, Director and Curator, 21c Museum 

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 that, 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.

This video installation was acquired for 21c at the Frieze Art Fair. The installation was commissioned and produced by Picture This and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. Funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Interview with Marcus Coates in which he talks about his relationship to birdsong, the digital processes behind Dawn Chorus: