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Oscilloscope Laboratories

Six years ago, artist Jill Magid began an extensive project on the life and work of revered Mexican architect Luis Barragán, whose vast archives are currently held by Swiss furniture company Vitra. The core argument she’s making about corporations co-opting and profiting from the work of creatives is important, but it gets thoroughly obfuscated in The Proposal, Magid’s film tracking her efforts to convince the overseer of the archives, Frederica Zanco, to crack open the vault. Barragán and his beautiful buildings take a backseat to Magid’s narcissistic quest to get what she wants, and the way she goes about it—including exhuming Barragán’s ashes and using her leverage with the late architect’s family—never feels less than gross.



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