Born 1967 in London, Sarah Morris creates pictures, and since 1998, has also been making films which deal with the urban, social and societal typologies of the present. While she picks up the colours and forms of geometrical and architectonic figures in her pictures, her films blend different aspects of life at one place at a specific point in time.
In 2009, the MMK Museum of Modern Art Frankfurt dedicated a comprehensive individual exhibition to her, for which Sarah Morris created her most monumental mural painting to date.
As part of this exhibition, Sarah Morris' latest film, Beijing, which focuses on the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, was shown for the first time in Europe. According to the MMK, she as thereby achieved "the spectacular portrayal of a neo-capitalistic state in an extreme phase of self-stylization and control mania". "In my film, Beijing is a place about which I want to have a fantasy. I do not claim any truth for my version of Beijing," said Morris.
In addition visitors were also able to watch Morris' film "Capital" about Washington D.C . in 2001, in which she interweaves the tail end of the Clinton administration with the "normal" city life of the metropolis. A 30 minute film in 16:9 format.
Christie HD8K 3-chip DLP® projectors, with a light output of 8,000 ANSI lumens each, were used for both projections. In an earlier exhibition in London, Sarah Morris had worked with Christie HD projectors and, since she was fully satisfied with the devices, also wanted to assure a maximum of quality as part of this exhibition. Therefore, the exhibition curator of the MMK, Sophie von Olfers, contacted Christie in search of appropriate devices, who referred her to one of the leading technology service providers in the industry – LUXAV, headquartered in Lohfelden (Germany), with subsidiaries in Munich, Berlin, Bonn and Hamburg.
Project manager Georg Bruckner from LUXAV, visited the museum with his team to set up the system during the rehearsals jointly with the artist. The objective was to show a fully wall-sized projection of "Beijing" in 21:19 Cinemascope format.
At a height of approximately 5m, this resulted in a projection width of 11.66m. And in terms of the space available at the museum, it soon turned out that it was impossible to use variable focuses since, due to a lack of depth, wide angle lenses had to be utilised, which ultimately led to the use of 1.2:1 wide angle lenses in each of the two projectors. Both the museum and the artist wanted the wall, on which the film would be played on, to be utilised as fully as possible, yet, without projecting above and beyond it, so that the ideal location for the projector needed to be identified. This became a high-precision job in which the LUXAV team had to readjust and reposition again and again until the final and perfect position was found.
In the "Beijing" hall, a pillar built specifically for this purpose was made to serve as a stand for the projector while a wall bracket in the second hall was used for the projection of "Capital" in 16:9.
Just like she had already been in London, Sarah Morris was much satisfied with the projectors, given that not just the sharpness, but also colour uniformity and brightness were deciding factors for her. After all, the colours were supposed to be exactly like she had imagined them. The Xenon lamp light of the 3-chip DLP® projectors guarantees a natural colour reproduction. Since it was projected directly onto the wall, the team opted for coating the wall with Rosco Supersaturated White, which was applied to the marked projection area after the rehearsal.
Thus, a room was created for "Beijing" that featured a dark grey carpet and was set in a gloomy twilight, since it was important to both the artist and the museum that it was always bright enough for visitors to still experience the museum's sense of space. Since the light-intensive Christie HD8K projectors were used, the two side windows in the bottom area did not need to be covered up. A bench, approx. 15 metres in lengths, was available to the viewers, but many of them simply opted to sit on the floor to watch the film.
The films were delivered by a hard disk recorder in an endless loop and ran every day from May until the end of August 2009. "Beijing" will even run for at least another two months, since the museum purchased the copy for its collection.
Despite the continuous use, the projectors ran daily for several months without any major hiccups, without LUXAV having to take action even once: "Here, quite impressively, Christie projectors have proven once more their reliability and we see our decision confirmed once more to opt for Christie when we were looking for a partner for projectors." emphasized Georg Bruckner after the exhibition was closed down.