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Directed by Javier Codesal

The notion of the anomalous nature of the artist's psyche has remained strong throughout the modern era, making an imbalance in artistic expression seem possible. Within society at large, it is reflected in the existence of a series of therapies that aim to adapt the individual to the social system that he feels rejected from. From there, there has been a necessity to experiment and argue possible alternative models to this therapy of adaptation and, as such, an alternative model to the concept of art as anomaly.

This workshop came about from the desire to study the effects of jobs related to artistic creation through questions that address current preoccupations about both therapy and creative processes. Can artistic creation have therapeutic effects? Is there anything to be said about the effects of art? This workshop does not aim to offer univocal answers nor working formulas, though it does offer a space for debate and experimentation for those who pose themselves such questions.

This workshop is primarily directed towards educators, therapists, mediators, professionals in educational and helath institutions, social workers, and others from the realm of public service, as well as artists and those generally interested in the problems of art in relation to what we call, for lack of a better word, therapy. The workshop will be a space for experimentation of the uses of images in an attempt to familiarize the participants with the subjective processes of art, which is a pre-requisite for being able to reflect on art and therapy in the specific context of socially regulated institutions and public service whose aim is to assist and treat subjects who question challenge established social norms.

Artistic activity is very similar to reading, as both confront an object, which we could also term "work of art," expecting it to have some higher meaning. Producing meaning and investigating its nature constitute the root of the artist's tasks, just as they do the reader's activity. That means that through reading, one can gain access to a concrete field of artistic work. This workshop will be primarily based on readings.
The work assigned in this workshop is primarily based on literary, audio, and visual works. Among those authors to be read are James Matthew Barrie, Maurice Blanchot, John Cage, Emily Dickinson, Wayne W. Dreyer, Jean-Luc Godard, Kiarostami, Pier-Paolo Pasolini, Fernando Pessoa, Pino, Alexander Sokurov, Steven Spielberg… Perhaps by acting on these materials through words and video recordings, and transforming, according to the editing process, these productions in phases, we will move closer to the artistic nucleus where subjectivity discovers and elaborates its ethic passion. This latter dimension is the most permanent and contemporary that we can find in art.

Javier Codesal is an artist.


Programme

Location: Room 1
Schedule: From 10.30 am to 1 pm.
MACBA Public Programs
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