Artist Talks Sarah Morris

The artist will discuss her work with Sarah Johanna Theurer, Curator at Fondation Beyeler.

The conversation will take place in English. 

Museum admission included during opening hours.

Sarah Morris (*1967, Sevenoaks, UK) explores the structures, systems, and visual codes of modern cities and societies. Located at the crossroads of Pop, Conceptual Art and geometric abstraction, Sarah Morris has been producing both painting and film since the mid-1990s. Her work explores the complex conversation between architecture and power. Through her use of both reality and vivid abstraction, Morris creates a new language of place and politics. She sees her paintings as self-generating, open to interpretation, motion and change, giving the viewer a heightened sense that they are part of a larger system. In her films, a parallel yet informative practice to the paintings, Morris explores the psycho-geography and the dynamic nature of cities in flux through the multi-layered, fragmented narratives she captures. The situations the artist places herself and the viewers within reflect the hierarchies we inhabit continously. Uniquely playing with the contradiction of our complicity with structures both macro and micro, Morris is considered one of the most intriguing artists of her generation.

Morris’s work has been exhibited internationally over the past three decades, including major solo exhibitions such as at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK (1999), Sarah Morris: Capital at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2001), Sarah Morris at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2005), and Odysseus Factor at UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2018). More recently, her work has been presented in exhibitions including ETC at M+ Hong Kong, All Systems Fail at Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern (2024), at Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (2025), and Transactional Authority at Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka (2026). Her films, often made in international metropolises, complement her painting practice and offer further perspectives on architecture, perception, and power.

Artist Talks is a programme by Fondation Beyeler and UBS, featuring internationally renowned contemporary artists discussing their work. The format is open and dynamic, ranging from traditional artist lectures to moderated conversations between artists and leading figures from the art world.

Artist Talks take place at Fondation Beyeler in Riehen/Basel as well as at other art institutions across Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the United States. The conversations are recorded and can be followed online at fondationbeyeler.ch/artisttalks.