Tag Archives: chrome hoof

Wildebeasts at the Elephant

Fari Bradley discusses shamanism, ‘beast visions’, social change and social cleansing with prolific artist Marcus Coates. Coates consulted with locals and developers alike to devise a shamanic intervention into the regeneration of Elephant & Castle and its Heygate Estate.

Coates’ interactions with the amazing array of characters around the Elephant and Castle culminated in a vision-ritual performance with 16 piece disco-Prog group Chrome Hoof at the iconic Coronet theatre.

The subsequent documentary film Vision Quest: A Ritual for Elephant & Castle was screened in an empty shopping unit in the centre, long-since marked for demolition along with the estates and areas around them. “I asked them how would you represent this place in terms of an animal? […] The council were amazing actually, the way they co-operated with the process […] You don’t actually see this in the film, but afterwards I asked them to envisage in a very personal way what their personal vision was, ’cause you have corporate vision and these scripted visions but I wanted them to invest in their own personal vision of what the Elephant could be. ” said Coates “.”