TOM DALE
Department of the Interior
The Masonic Hall, West Ascent, St Leonards on Sea, TN38 0DR
FREE
Department of the Interior is a 6.5m high black leatherette bouncy castle that mocks, with absurdity, both institutional and architectural claims for authority.
It is a sculpture that is simultaneously seductive and repulsive; its form and the space within no longer the preserve of inclusive childish pleasures.
They speak instead of adult power games and BDSM practices that are normally played out in spaces concealed from public view.
In spite of the castle’s tactile allure, visitors are strictly forbidden to enter and bounce, forcing them instead to imagine who or what might have that privilege and why.
Like Franz Kafka’s character ‘K’ – attempting to enter
a fictional castle only to be thwarted by invisible and inexplicable governance – Department of the Interior exemplifies the frustration and futility that governance and bureaucracy often pose at an individual and collective level.
Born in Kendal, a Goldsmiths graduate and former Doctoral researcher at Anglia Ruskin University, Dale’s solo exhibitions include the John Hansard gallery and NIMAC, Cyprus, presented film, sculpture, performance and installation.
Dale has just completed a short film A Cage for Voices for Channel 4’.