10 April 2012
Dreaming up a new vision for South London
His methods are curious. He explains: "There are millenniums-old traditions of 'visions'; of shamen whose imaginings were used to try to solve intractable problems. These days that has become a corporate thing: rich developers have visions, councils have visions. Archaic culture has become part of corporate culture." So Coates decided to counter this with some visions of his own, using a combination of meditation, self-induced trances and novelty headgear to see what ideas for the redevelopment of the site he could muster. A film, Vision Quest – a Ritual for Elephant & Castle, follows these efforts, including Coates's well-attended on-stage trance at a nearby music venue in 2009.
Read the rest of this article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/apr/08/marcus-coates-artist-elephant-castle?INTCMP=SRCH