Jour­ney to the Lower World, 2004

Digit­al video, SD 720 × 576 4:3

28:13 min

Single or dual chan­nel video installation

Filmed in Liv­er­pool, UK

Cam­era and sound by Mar­cus Coates, Ben Coode-Adams and Nick David

Pho­to­graphy by Nick David

Pro­duced with Fur­ther up in the Air and Liv­er­pool Hous­ing Action Trust

Com­mis­sioned and fun­ded by Film London

As part of an artists’ res­id­ency called ​‘Fur­ther Up in the Air’, Coates stayed in a 24-storey hous­ing block in Liv­er­pool, which was sched­uled for demoli­tion. After get­ting to know the res­id­ents, he invited them to par­ti­cip­ate in a ritu­al, where he would enter into a trance and com­mu­nic­ate with anim­al spir­its. Dressed in a stag pelt, he dances and makes anim­al and bird calls in front of the res­id­ents, before recount­ing how his encounter with these anim­als might relate to their ques­tion. A second syn­chron­ised film shows CCTV foot­age of Coates des­cend­ing in the lift, inter­spersed with foot­age of all the anim­als wit­nessed on his journey.