Miriam Rutherfoord & Joke Schmidt

A Take on Perception

March 6 – May 15 2022

During the second Covid lockdown at the beginning of 2021, Joke Schmidt (b.1992, lives and works in Zurich) and Miriam Rutherfoord (b.1991, lives and works in Zurich and Winterthur) retreated into their studio in Zurich and filmed the view outside from their window. The film From Our Window, is a result of this activity over the course of the last year.
Just like in their earlier works, the artists almost completely do without any acting or staging, nor do they make much use of the medium’s wide repertoire regarding camera, cut, and sound. The only manipulation employed comes in the form of the pitching or amplification of originally recorded sound. The frame remains static, and the cuts simple. An abundance of short camera takes follow one another, each one telling a minimal story: a gate is closing; intensive snowfall; a sudden incidence of light on a skyscraper; ice cream is delivered; the street is being repaired.
As already in earlier works, the artists manage to develop mundane everyday life scenes into a covert and captivating series of vignettes. From Our Window also includes the moments of preparation as the artists prepare the camera for shooting; personal conversations are recorded and included in the final edit. Interfering noise and image distortions, usually eliminated as incidental aspects of preparation, become important elements that highlight and lend insight into the artists’ process.
From Our Window is the centre-piece of the exhibition titled A Take on Perception at Kunsthalle Winterthur; and it is part of an exhibition design originating in the different mise-en-scènes of film in cinema, museum and theatre. The visitors are first directed into the small hall of the gallery, where photographs show three crows that also appear in From Our Window. This is a clear reference to old-fashioned cinema and theatre windows and foyers, where film stills advertise and whet the audience’s appetite for the feature film on the big screen. A stage curtain leads viewers into the main hall of the gallery, where comfortable armchairs and a large screen invite the viewer sit and watch in the same manner as a popular cinematic film.
Miriam Rutherfoord & Joke Schmidt capture and memorialise mundane aspects of reality, surrounding us everyday and everywhere, finding unexpected beauty and mystery in the banality of normal life.

The exhibition is supported by Stiftung Erna und Curt Burgauer, S. Eustachius Stiftung, Ernst und Olga Gubler-Hablützel Stiftung, and Micasa Winterthur.