Lives in Boorloo Perth, Western Australia
Erin Coates is a visual artist and creative producer working across drawing, sculpture and film. Coates’ practice is informed by her deep interest in the natural world, biology and genre film cultures. Her practice focuses on the limits of our bodies and physical interaction with and within given environments. In exploring bodily thresholds she draws from her own background in rock climbing and freediving. Recent work has centred on the underwater gothic in relation to Australia’s unique marine and estuarine ecologies and presents hybrid forms that merge human elements with various endemic life forms. Referencing anthropogenic impacts on these organisms her work at times engages with a transgressive bodily aesthetic while proposing possible post-human futures.
Coates' work is shown in both galleries and film festivals in Australia and abroad, including: rīvus: 23rd Biennale of Sydney (2022), Erin Coates // videos and movies // 2011-2020 Art Gallery of Western Australia (2021), Adelaide Biennial: Monster Theatres at the Art Gallery of South Australia (2020), Videobrasil - 21st Contemporary Art Biennial | Imagined Communities, São Paulo, Brasil (2019), Driving to the Ends of the Earth, Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art in Japan (2018), The National: New Australian Art, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2017).
Coates has a Master of Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Her work is held in major state and private collections within Australia.
Erin Coates is represented by Moore Contemporary.
cv
solo & two-person exhibitions
2021 Erin Coates // videos & movies // 2011-2020, Art Gallery of Western Australia
2020 Alluvial Gold, Goolugatup Heathcote Cultural Precinct, Perth
2019 Fauna Flesh Flora, Turner Galleries, Perth
Dark Water, Linden New Art, Melbourne
2018 The Pact, MARS Gallery, Melbourne
2017 Driving to the Ends of the Earth, Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan
Open Water: The Offering, Firstdraft, Sydney
Open Water: The Offering, Moana, Perth
2014 Kinesphere, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth
2010 Surface Tension, Red Gate Gallery – Bei Gao, Beijing
2007 Pananthem, Spectrum Project Space, Perth
group exhibitions & screenings
2024 Film Maudit, Highways Performance Space, Los Angeles
John Stringer Prize Retrospective, John Curtin Gallery, Perth
Portals & Viewpoints, Moore Contemporary, Perth
Northern Beaches Environmental Art & Design Prize, Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Sydney
Revelation Perth International Film Festival, Luna Cinemas, Perth
2023 Fairy Tales, Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
Hee Haw, Lawson Flats, Perth
Fisher’s Ghost, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney
Walyalup Waters, for 10 Nights in Port Festival, PS Art Space, Fremantle
Get Me Out! Caboolture Regional Gallery, Moreton Bay
Blue World : Valerie Taylor Art Prize for Ocean Advocacy, Carriageworks, Sydney
52ACTIONS - Artspace national touring exhibition 2022 - 2025
Bunbury Biennale: Culture / Nature, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, Bunbury
Speculative Horizons, Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait
Dobell Drawing Prize, National Art School Gallery, Sydney
Bread of Bone, Holmes à Court Gallery, Perth + Vasse Felix Gallery, Margaret River
2022 Structural Changes, Moore Contemporary, Perth
In Plain Sight at Sydney Contemporary Art Fair - with Moore Contemporary, Sydney
rīvus: 23rd Biennale of Sydney, Sydney
Swamp Fest, Zukunft am Ostkreuz, Berlin
Futures + Ruins, Central Gallery, Adelaide
Wench Film Festival, Mumbai, India
Mujeres y Terror : Final Girl Film Festival, Centro Arte AlamedA, Chile
Melville Art Collection: Landscapes, Goolugatup Heathcote, Perth
Green Screen Film Festival, Perth
2021 Confinements, Videobrasil, São Paulo, Brasil
Melville Contemporary, Goolugatup Heathcote, Perth
Fuso International Video Art Festival, Lisbon, Portugal
York Botanic Art Prize, Gallery 152, York WA
Court Métrange - International Fantastic Short Film Festival Rennes, France
Reflection / Submersion, Holmes à Court Gallery, as a part of Perth Festival, Perth
Final Girls Berlin Film Festival, Berlin, Germany
Film Maudit 2.0, Los Angeles USA
2020 Hyper Leisure, Moore Contemporary, Perth
Adelaide Biennial: Monster Theatres, Art Gallery of South Australia
52ACTIONS, online commission for Artspace, Sydney
International Limestone Coast Video Art Festival, Riddoch Arts & Cultural Centre, Mount Gambier
Joondalup Invitation Art Prize, Whitford City, Perth
Lust for Lustre, Ellenbrook Gallery / Fringe Festival, Perth
Cleveland International Film Festival, USA
Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, Belgium
St Kilda Film Festival, Melbourne
San Antonio Independent Film Festival, Ecuador
Genre Celebration Festival, Tokyo, Japan
Women in Horror Film Festival, Atlanta, USA
Calcutta International Cult Film Festival, India
Atlanta Horror Film Festival, USA
Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, USA
Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival in Lille, France
NIGHTSTREAM, North Bend Film Festival, Washington, USA
Satisfied Eye International Film Festival, Surrey, UK
Sydney Underground Film Festival, Sydney
Even Keel, Wanneroo Art Gallery, Perth
2019 Videobrasil - 21st Contemporary Art Biennial | Imagined Communities, São Paulo, Brasil
Oaxaca FilmFest, Oaxaca, Mexico
Ax Wound Film Festival, Vermont, USA
San José International Film Awards, Costa Rica
Darebin Art Prize, Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, Darebin
Obsession: Devil in the Detail, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington
2018 The time is out of joint, Trocodero Art Space, Melbourne
Moments, Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo
HyperPrometheus, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth
You are a Habitat, Adelaide Central Gallery, Adelaide
Contested Spaces: Women in Sport, John Curtin Gallery, Perth
Revelation Perth International Film Festival, Perth
2017 Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize, Sydney
John Stringer Prize - winner, Kelly Stokes Collection, Perth
The National: New Australian Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Channels Festival, The Big Screen, Federation Square, Melbourne
Otra Mirada, Festival Internacional de Videoarte, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Guirguis New Art Prize, Art Gallery of Ballarat
Revelation Perth International Film Festival, Perth
Something is trying to tell us some things, Five Walls, Melbourne
Another Green World, Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo
2016 Sounding Art, PS Art Space, Fremantle
High Tide : Fremantle Biennale, site-specific screening, City of Fremantle
Inanition, Success, Perth
Fisher’s Ghost, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney
Melbourne Central Art Loop – Public Screening, Melbourne
Rumblestrip – one-night art installation on Pier Street, supported by City of Perth
2015 Polygraphics, Central Galleries, Perth
Zeichen Der Nacht Film Festival, Berlin
The Jester’s Whisper - John Fries Award, UNSW Galleries, Sydney
Spaced 2: future recall, Perth International Arts Festival, Western Australian Museum
Signes de Nuit, Paris, 2015
Revelation Perth International Film Festival, Perth
Paris Short Film Festival, Paris
International Horror Hotel, Ohio
Cellar Door Film Festival, Ottawa
Subject to Ruin, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney
2014 Pars Pro Toto, The Block QUT, Brisbane
NYC Independent Film Festival, USA
Xlll Kansk International Video Festival, Siberia
Revelation Perth International Film Festival, Perth
2013 Aesthetica Short Film Festival, United Kingdom
Merge, MARS Gallery, Melbourne
The Cars That Ate Perth, Spectrum Project Space, Perth
Intimacies, Wallflower Photomedia Gallery, Mildura
2012 Revelation Perth International Film Festival, Perth
Suspension, Parer Place Urban Screens QUT, Brisbane
Inside Running, Fremantle Arts Centre / Perth International Arts Festival
Yonder, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth
Loops, FELTspace, Adelaide
Suspension, Perth Cultural Centre Screen, Perth
2011 Redshift, public projection and Perth Centre for Photography
Energetics & Informatics, Aotearoa Digital Arts Network, Whanganui, New Zealand
2010 In Transit - Wellington Bus Station, Foodchain Screen Project, Perth
Golden Lining, Platform China Contemporary Art Institute and Pickled Art, Beijing
2009 The Yellow Vest Syndrome: recent west Australian art, Fremantle Arts Centre
2008 My Favourite Australian, the ABC and the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
2007 New Work 3, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth
Event 1: Screening, Morton Street Spare Room Project, Brisbane
2005 Beograd Nekad i Sad, Prodajna Galerija, Belgrade
2004 Horses For Courses, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver
This Experiment, Butchershop Gallery, Vancouver
Lucky 13, Belkin Satellite, Vancouver
2003 Flux: Survey of Contemporary Art in Western Australia, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, Perth
artist residencies
2024 Activating Collections, Art on the Move X Museum of the Great Southern, Albany
2021 State Buildings Artist Residency, Perth
2020 Tilt Residency, Goolugatup Heathcote Cultural Precinct, Perth
2015 International Art Space, Perth and Albany
2014 Hangar: centre for arts research and production, Barcelona, Spain
2010 Red Gate Gallery, Artist Residency Program, Beijing, China
2009 Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Studio Residency, Perth, Australia
awards & prizes
2023 Joondalup Art Award Inside-Out Billboard Commission
2021 WA Screen Culture Award - Innovation in Moving Image and Installation Art
Best Visual Effects - Genre Celebration Film Festival, Japan
Thicker Than Water Award, Final Girls Berlin Film Festival, Germany
2020 Best Drama Short, Atlanta Horror Film Festival, USA, 2020
Best Production Design in the short film category, Northbend Film Festival, Washington, USA
Best Australian Picture - Sydney Underground Film Festival, 2020
Best Australian Director - Short Film - A Night of Horror International Film Festival, Sydney, 2020
Best Production Design - Women in Horror Film Festival, Atlanta, 2020
Best Terror Short - San Antonio Independent Film Festival, Ecuador, 2020
2019 Best Visual Effects - Calcutta International Cult Film Festival, India
Best Short Horror Film - San José International Film Awards, Costa Rica
2017 John Stringer Prize, Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth
2016 Shortlisted for the Lexus Australia Short Film Fellowship, presented by Sydney Film Festival
2015 Best Science Fiction Short Film Award: Paris Short Film Festival
Best Experimental Horror Short - International Horror Hotel, Ohio, 2015
Shortlisted for the Perth Stadium Land Art Commission
2014 Catalyst: Katherine Hannay Visual Arts Commission
2009 City of Joondalup Invitation Art Award Acquisitive Prize, Joondalup
collections
Art Gallery of Western Australia
Art Gallery of South Australia
Murdoch University Art Collection
Wesfarmers Collection
Cruthers Collection of Women's Art
Janet Holmes à Court Collection
City of Perth Collection
City of Melville Collection
City of Joondalup Collection
Bunbury Regional Art Gallery Collection
education
2006 Master of Fine Arts, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
2002 Bachelor of Fine Arts, with Honours (1st class), Curtin University, Perth, Australia
2000 Advanced Diploma in Languages - Spanish, Escuela Internacional, Salamanca, Spain
curatorial projects
2020 Bodywork, Fremantle Arts Centre
2019 Other Suns, Fremantle Arts Centre
2018 Bush Women: 25 years on, Fremantle Arts Centre
2017 In Cahoots, Fremantle Arts Centre
Jess Johnson : Hex Nemesis, Fremantle Arts Centre
2016 Light Geist, Fremantle Arts Centre
2012 The Cars That Ate Perth, Spectrum Project Space, Perth
We don’t need a map: a Martu experience of the Western Desert, Fremantle Arts Centre
2011 Suspension, Perth Cultural Centre Screen, Perth and Parer Place Urban Screens QUT, Brisbane
2009 The Knife’s Edge: video seen in Beijing, Fremantle Arts Centre and regional WA tour venues
Transmission: one-night screen gallery, D&S Autos Mount Lawley, Perth
books & monographs
Catalyst: The Katherine Hannay Visual Arts Commission, published by Paul Lidgerwood, ed: Lisa Starkey, 2016
Erin Coates : Kinesphere, text by Leigh Robb, Jack Sargeant and Shevaun Cooley, published by Atomic Activity Books and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, 2014