| Midway between documentary and fiction, The Mirroring Cure by Charlotte Ginsborg investigates the way people relate to their everyday work and how this influences their lives. The film is set on a large construction site in the centre of London and develops from the viewpoint of the company secretary, who decides to interview five of the firm’s employees, from the architect to the labourers, about their relationship with their place of work over a period of two years. She is fascinated above all by the experience of the architect, who has suffered for years from loss of balance, a condition aggravated by the great tension on the site. In order to address this problem and go on doing his job, the man has developed the “mirroring cure” referred to in the title of the film. This surreal do-it-yourself treatment consists of studying and imitating the actions of others, repeating their movements so as to become sure of his own. The transformation of the office complex through demolition and rebuilding gives rise to an extraordinary visual story developed through intimate portraits of the five employees.
In works often characterized by a sociological interest in the surrounding world, Charlotte Ginsborg interweaves elements of documentary and fantasy to investigate the psychological and physical relations between people and the social and architectural condition of the city. From the birth of the metropolis to the advent of industrialization, the description, characterization and analysis of these phenomena played an important part in works by many artists contrasting nature with the city, its architecture and its atmosphere. While poverty, violence, want and dirt reigned in the city, nature was characterized by freedom, purity and self-awareness. Over the last few years, in the wake of the growing urbanization brought about by globalization, interest has been rekindled in the phenomenon of the city. Charlotte Ginsborg focuses on little stories of individual people within the metropolitan fabric, on their everyday life, their needs, hopes and duties, not only creating portraits of individuals but also capturing the sense of contemporary life in today’s metropolises.
Charlotte Ginsborg (London, 1974) has held solo shows at Spazio Pubblico Arte Contemporanea (Villa di Toppo Florio, Udine) and the Lux in London. She has also taken part in group exhibitions at venues such as the PAN – Palazzo delle Arti Napoli (Naples), the Whitechapel Project Space in London, and Europe Asia Mediations (Poznam, Poland) as well as numerous festivals. |
