New artist-in-residence to explore and challenge human ideas of climate crisis

In a new and ambitious project, currently titled “A Normal Life”, artist Marcus Coates has joined King’s College as its artist in residence. Developed in collaboration with King’s, “A Normal Life” will put him – and by default us, as individuals – under the spotlight. The multi-faceted project will engage with, and be shaped by, world-leading scholars and business leaders, the community of King’s and the city of Cambridge.

The experience of living through today’s unfolding and deepening permacrisis poses profound and urgent questions to and of society, individual citizens, institutions and world leaders. Questions like “Who is accountable?” and “Who is responsible?” resonate ever more sharply as we call ourselves and others to account for bringing our people and our planet to the edge of the precipice. Contemporary artists, working at a distance from formal structures of power, are uniquely positioned to ask such difficult questions.

Marcus Coates is known for his sustained commitment to working at the intersection between nature and culture, and between art and science. Marcus makes films that address humanity and the natural world and explore the connections between them, working with drama and in collaboration. His 2022 series of films, entitled “The Directors” and produced by Artangel, has been widely acclaimed for its powerful and sensitive exploration of psychosis.

"The generous spirit of cross-disciplinary interaction which is at the core of the College has been a revelation to me. A place steeped in the past but profoundly rooted in the questions of today and the future,” commented Marcus. “My research for A Normal Life is informed by a range of disciplines from neuroscience, medieval English literature, history of law, evolutionary biology, politics and more." 

“It’s been remarkable and a great privilege being part of an ethos that celebrates thought and creates space for the imagination. 

Marcus Coates

Marcus will work with world experts with widely different perspectives to investigate our complicity in the earth crisis, as well as scrutinizing the cultural forces, the ideologies, values, and myths that shape our behaviour. His work will foreground those whose lives have been shaped by climate impacts – from small island nations threatened by rising seas to the farmers of the Fens facing unprecedented threats due to climate change – as well as those resolutely in denial of the crisis.

The project is co-curated by Clare Cumberlidge and Frances Morris (KC 1978) CBE, King’s College alumna and Honorary Fellow. “Marcus has received an incredible welcome from the staff and students at King's, a community which offers a near-perfect environment in which to develop and test his ambitious new project which focuses on personal responsibility in the era of climate emergency,” said Frances Morris. 

“Internationally renowned for its scholarship across the humanities and sciences, King's has a long track record of independent thought, challenging tradition and embracing cross-disciplinary innovation. Marcus's residency is generating multiple opportunities for research, reflection and imaginative collaboration with analytical and creative thinkers from across the College community.”

Marcus and the project team will organise a series of workshops and other opportunities for engagement across the College community in 2026.