Enric Godes, the Catalan who would like to "die" at the seven wonders of the world

Enric Godes has a surprising hobby: playing dead at iconic locations. In front of the Eiffel Tower, in Moscow’s Red Square, at the Parthenon in Athens: he has been capturing these moments for fifteen years through his viral project Travel Kills Me.

He estimates that he has already played dead in 41 countries, and his goal is to work his way through the list of more than 1,500 UNESCO World Heritage sites. Or, at the very least, to “die” at the seven wonders of the world.

“I’ve always enjoyed travelling and photography, but I used to take the typical boring photo,” Godes explained in an interview on RAC1’s Via lliure. The idea came to him during a trip to New York, when his business partner felt the urge to lie on the ground to take a different kind of photograph. “It opened my eyes!” he exclaims. He describes it as “the anti-selfie”, because his face cannot be seen in many of the photographs.

Could you take my photo?

So how does he go about taking the photograph? It depends on whether Enric is travelling alone or with someone. If he has company, they already know they will have to take the picture. If he is travelling alone, he either finds somewhere to prop up the camera or asks a passer-by to take it. And how do people react when he lies on the ground? “People find it strange, but they can see it’s not an accident, that nothing has happened to me,” he says.

But that is not always the case. “I remember taking the photograph at Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo. When it was time to take it, some friends had gone up into a hotel, and I was on my own. I hadn’t been lying there for even two seconds before six or seven people were gathered around me asking whether I was all right,” he explains.

No philosophical message

The Travel Kills Me project has gone viral, but Godes insists that the photographs are neither a reflection on death nor a critique of tourism. “For me, it’s a travel blog with a touch of humour. I’m sure some people look for a reflection on the limits of humour, but I really do it to tell other travellers about the places I’ve been.”

He does acknowledge, however, that the images provoke a reaction. “I don’t see it as anything artistic, but it does have that thought-provoking quality you get from works of art. On the one hand, there’s an element of humorous reflection; on the other, there’s also a disruptive side, which means it isn’t the same old postcard photograph,” Godes says.

Playing dead in the RAC1 studio

Enric Godes did not miss the opportunity to add another photograph to his project. This time, he played dead in the RAC1 studio.

Listen here to the conversation with traveller Enric Godes, creator of Travel Kills Me, and Cristian Palazzi, who holds a doctorate in philosophy and is an expert in bioethics.