The Last Climber Alive Must Keep Herself Fit and Ready

The Last Climber Alive Must Keep Herself Fit and Ready, 2014
video, duration: 5:41 mins
composer: Stuart James
climber: Shevaun Cooley

Erin Coates' video practice has long been concerned with sci-fi literature, cinema and post-apocalyptic landscapes. The Last Climber Alive Must Keep Herself Fit and Ready, is set amidst a desolate megalopolis within which roams a lone female athlete on infinite loop. We watch her stretch, train, accrue muscle and strength in preparation for a battle with an unknown assailant who may never arrive to test the power of this lean and agile urban warrior. The set is the largest architectural model in the world, a miniature replica on a 1:1750 scale of the city of Beijing, housed in the Beijing Urban Planning Museum in China.
~Leigh Robb, Kinesphere publication, 2014