A precocious 11 year old capitalist and his side-kick, an ailing composer, are the two unlikely protagonists of Crippled Symmetries, an experimental meditation on money, music and abstraction in post crisis Britain. The work is inspired obliquely by William Gaddis’ epic satirical novel JR (1975).Crippled Symmetries draws many of its elements, including its soundtrack and cast, from a four-day experimental music workshop conceived and run by Gibson and composer Anton Lukoszevieze, and staged at an adventure playground in east London. The resulting film is an exploration of abstraction in music and finance from the psychedelic perspective of youth. Narrated by a banker, playing a fictionalised version of himself, the film stages a series of scenes derived partly from Gaddis narrative and partly from the production process itself: a composer and a banker meet to discuss fiction; a class of 11 year olds pay a visit to the motorway beneath the NYSE exchange date centre in Essex; an illicit meeting at an abandoned fairground ends in spiritual death.

Crippled Symmetries was commissioned by FLAMIN Productions through Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network with funding from Arts Council England; Collective Gallery, Edinburgh; and Grazer Kunstverein. Supported by LUX / On & For Production.