The Films

Since the late 1990s, Sarah Morris has produced 16 films. Most of her films are experimental portraits of metropolises such as Chicago, Abu Dhabi, Rio de Janeiro, and Beijing. As in her paintings, Morris’s filmic portraits decipher the unique character – or “psychogeography” – of a city, as well as its social, economic, and cultural conditions and tensions.

Morris’s films deliberately resemble masterpieces of 1920s avant-garde film. She uses editing and montage to stage a city’s main characters and unite images from urban life into an overall composition. Produced with great sophistication, these films are often astonishing in their proximity to centres of power.

Over time, the interplay of images creates an impressive effect: the filmic rhythm, accompanied by Liam Gillick’s hypnotic soundtrack, intensifies our experience of Morris’s images. This allows us to recognize connections that would otherwise remain hidden.