The Directors
Marcus Coates, The Directors, is presented in Aotearoa New Zealand, by Te Tuhi in collaboration with Artangel London as part of the Auckland Arts Festival.
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 of the five films being screened in each location.
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.
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The Directors: Stephen The Directors: Lucy The Directors: Mark The Directors: Marcus |
| For a short preview of the films, information about each director’s story and interviews click here For an interactive map showing venue locations click here For more information visit Te Tuhi’s website here
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