His works, including performances and installations that have been recorded as video art, employ shamanistic rituals in communication with "the lower world", and contrast natural and man-made processes.
He graduated from the Kent Institute of Art and Design in 1990 and completed his MA at the Royal Academy Schools, London, in 1993.
[4] In 2022 Coates was commissioned by Artangel to make The Directors — five films made in collaboration with individuals with lived experiences of psychosis.
[5] Coates has exhibited extensively internationally since 1999 including Altermodern,[6] the Tate Triennial and Kunsthalle Zurich in 2009 and "Super 8" at the Museum of Modern Art Rio de Janeiro and "Galápagos" at the Centro de Arte Moderna in Lisbon, Portugal in 2013.
This was followed by The Trip which was published by Koenig Books, and documents his installation at the Serpentine Gallery,[7] London in 2011.