Dani + Sheilah ReStack
A Filth of Dreams
April - July, 2025
A Filth of Dreams explores the ReStacks’ current curiosity surrounding the passage of time through reimagined depictions of landscape and redefined notions of place. Through a site-specific installation involving video work and photogram collage, A Filth of Dreams appropriates murmurations - the naturally occurring flight pattern of a group of starlings - to accentuate and contemplate social designations of the aberrant and the unwanted.
Positioned within the frame of the main exterior-facing window of nw9, the video A Filth of Dreams features a swirling group of starlings - scientifically referred to as a filth - projected onto an antique screen assembled in the center of the alley behind the ReStacks’ home. The twisting and twirling murmuration undulates in shape-shifting patterns and formations as night falls, its mesmerizing movement in sharp contrast to the mundane street setting, surrounded by garage doors and scattered with recycling bins and other detritus.
Originating from European nations and categorized as a non-native species in North America, starlings are critically viewed as invasive to American ecosystems and are widely considered as pests. Yet simultaneously, starlings have the ability to coordinate their movements, mimic the human voice, problem solve, and cooperate to an extent unusual in birds. The birds’ movements are preserved through A Filth of Dreams as documentation of animal capacity, subtly posing the question of whether they are merely surviving or thriving amidst our current climate crisis.
The interior walls of nw9 provide a background for another interpretation of landscape - a sprawling installation of 175 photograms, titled Dani can you draw me the books falling. This substantial body of work emerges from a request made by Sheilah of Dani: to draw books with their pages being shaken out. Dani responded by drawing pages of numbers, which are the numbers she hears in her head during episodes of mania. These drawings are made using photographic document paper, and contain elements of collage through the addition of photogram marks made by the ReStacks’ three-year-old daughter, as well as Sheilah’s journal entries.
Together, these works generate landscapes of movement, transience, and aberrance, forming a portal of possibility for one to navigate and explore. They suggest the potential beauty that exists between the arbitrary lines of pest and treasure, of madness and clarity. Ultimately, A Filth of Dreams serves as a feminist mirage of the world - one where the reviled or the sick become the door opening into the universe of our everyday.
Thank you to The Blue Building and Gaa for their support.
about nw9
The Stiftung Kunstwissenschaft Köln aims to promote exceptional visual arts, supporting innovative artistic expression and creative processes by providing artists with a platform for their work. nw9.space is not a commercial gallery; rather, it seeks to collaborate with artists, galleries, museums, and other institutions to organize pioneering exhibitions. Research and educational activities are integral to the foundation’s mission. nw9 advances the exploration and understanding of visual arts and offers a platform for art education in Cologne and its surroundings. By fostering dialogue around the visual arts, nw9 contributes to the development of knowledge and ideas in art and art history, encouraging critical thinking, risk-taking, and provocation in the arts. The Michael & Eleonore Stoffel Foundation, Cologne, also a charitable foundation, is the main sponsor.
www.nw9.space
@nw9.space
press contact:
Hans Krestel
hans@heyhans.xyz
+49 (0) 177–6464856
contact
nw9 is open Fridays and Saturdays from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment.
For appointments, please contact info@nw9.space.
nw9
Kunstraum der Stiftung Kunstwissenschaft Köln
Neue Weyerstraße 9
50676 Köln