Director’s Notes

I conceive of this project as an act of reading, in a literal and oral sense, of Dying to Live, a book of poems by my great-nephew Alex Codesal, who wrote Dying to Live based on his experiences as user of mental health services, following a suicide attempt in December 2021. It is significant that the writing itself took place during his hospitalization, giving expression to the events, but above all confronting them with words, in a limiting and extreme effort of intelligence and self-assertion.

The magnitude of the epidemic of suicides, ascertained by mental health professionals, and the difficulty of grasping and discussing it without modifying or betraying the reality of it (for example, through sensationalism), justify a symbolic and artistic approach, seeking a way of dealing with this issue with intensity and respect. For this reason, I relate Alex’s book to fragments of the Book of Revelation, because in a certain way we are suffering an apocalyptic crisis that must be revealed and rebelled against like the sounding blare of trumpets…

Director Bio

Javier Codesal (Sabiñánigo, Huesca, 1958) has a degree in Visual and Hearing Image Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid.

Considered one of the pioneers of video art in Spain, his interest in the body and music stand out in his career – present in productions as different as’ Centauro ‘,’ Sábado legionario ‘,’ Los remotos paises de la pena ‘or the exhibition’ Ponte el cuerpo’-, the approach to themes such as pain, death or illness – for example, through the series ‘Dias de Sida’ – and a series of portraits that includes ‘La habitación de rada’ (on the Balkan War), ‘Mario y Manuel’, ‘Portrait of Francisco del Río’ or ‘Mayte’. Two of his other artistic facets are regularly reflected in his works and installations: poetry and drawing.