STUTTGART.- The Kunstmuseum Stuttgart is showcasing the most comprehensive retrospective of internationally acclaimed artist Sarah Morris to date. Titled All Systems Fail, the exhibition features over 100 works, including paintings, drawings, film posters, Morris’s complete filmography, and a newly commissioned wall mural. Spanning three decades, the exhibition highlights Morris's diverse artistic reflections on a rapidly changing world.
Exploring Systemic Crises and the Anthropocene
The exhibition’s title, All Systems Fail, carries a hyperbolic, paradoxical, and farsighted connotation. It alludes to the Anthropocene, the current epoch where human actions—from industrialization to globalization—have exacerbated environmental and structural crises. Morris’s work captures moments of transformation, developing a unique visual language that addresses the digitization of human relationships and the widespread failures of political and social systems.
Morris’s art is informed by movements such as Pop Art, Minimalism, and institutional critique, yet she offers an independent artistic vision. The exhibition reveals how she reimagines the psychologies and typologies of spaces, creating cognitive and visual reinterpretations of urban infrastructures.
From Geometric Abstractions to Urban Narratives
Since the 1990s, Morris has created artworks that interrogate networks, systems, economics, and architecture. Her vibrant geometric compositions subvert the modernist grid to reference economic structures. Described by Morris as "cognitive maps," her works constantly shift perspectives, scales, and colors, inviting viewers to explore new intellectual and visual directions.
Her abstract compositions translate the dense fabric of metropolitan life into visual matrices of spatial and semiotic disorientation. For All Systems Fail, Morris has conceived a large-scale mural titled Property. The artwork depicts an industrially rendered forest landscape, interconnected through vertical shapes.
Intersections of Film and Art
A key component of Morris’s oeuvre is her exploration of film. Her 16 films juxtapose spectacular events—such as the Academy Awards (Los Angeles, 2004), Carnival (Rio, 2012), and the Olympics (Beijing, 2008)—with everyday imagery. This contrast underscores themes of propaganda, power dynamics, and the role of art in societal narratives.
Her cinematic city portraits focus on transformation and global exchange while reflecting their diverse contexts. Morris’s films weave together banalities, architectures, events, and power structures, blending fiction and reality to map the psychogeographies of cities as interconnected spaces.
As part of the exhibition, Morris will present her latest film, ETC, shot in Hong Kong in 2023. This European premiere captures a city grappling with profound political, social, and state-imposed changes. The film’s title references a once-popular electronic payment card and symbolizes the continuity of Morris’s cinematic practice.
A Global Artistic Legacy
Born in 1967, Sarah Morris lives and works in New York City. She is a graduate of Brown University, Cambridge University, and the Whitney Independent Study Program. Her works are housed in major collections worldwide, including the Guggenheim Museum (New York), Tate Modern (London), and Centre Pompidou (Paris).
Accompanying the exhibition is a bilingual monograph published by Hatje Cantz. Featuring essays by Bettina Funcke and Asad Raza and an interview with Christopher Bollen, the publication offers an in-depth exploration of Morris’s career and artistry.
The All Systems Fail exhibition, organized in collaboration with leading art institutions, underscores Morris’s enduring influence and her capacity to navigate the complexities of our interconnected world.
