SOUR CASTLES

SAMANTHA SMALL

Exhibition Dates: 4 April 2014 - 10 May 2014

Sour Castles is an architectural intervention that invites the viewer to enter the ‘non-place’ of the hotel hallway. French anthropologist Marc Augé first described the ‘non-place’ as a public space which cannot be defined as relational, or historical, or concerned with identity, creating “neither singular identity nor relations; only solitude”. Contrary to Augé’s characterisation, the constructed hallway in Sour Castles, even with its purposefully predictable design, reflects the distinctive physical dimensions of the human body and delineates the psychological boundaries of individual privacy in a shared environment. Exploring links with the past, Sour Castles also recalls the history of Gorman House as a hostel for single women from 1928-45. (Samantha Small, 2014)

Image: Samantha Small, sour castles, 2014, installation, wood, paint, metal fittings, light fitting, monitor, media player, video 4’45” loop, dimensions variable