Sarah Morris


One day I went to have lunch at the U.N. delegates' dining room with a good friend. I ended up here. The only thing you have to do to get a reservation at the U.N. delegates' dining room is to turn over your passport. So we did. Several hours later, as we were leaving the United Nations, I spotted a building to the north that was built in 1966 by Wallis Harrison, the same architect who designed Lincoln Center. My friend, Richard, informed me that his grandmother lived there and that it was a residential building. On that afternoon, I became fascinated with this building, its history, and the idea of living in it. A location scout for a film never to be shot. I later discovered while reading George Plimpton's biography of Truman Capote that it was Truman's home, too. Apparently, he moved in with the proceeds of In Cold Blood, which is one of my favorite books, with its use of reality as fiction. This building is a perfect time warp to an older, more cinematic and glamorous version of New York City. Morris Lapidus meets Mies. The carpet that lies at my feet is about the only thing I moved in with aside from a bed and Liam [Gillick]. The carpet is an edition based on my painting Conde Nast. It is the exact size of the painting, but, of course, the carpet is much more useful.