Under the Art Gallery of New South Wales, an artist called Mike Hewson has turned Nelson Packer Tank into a bright and interactive summer atmosphere. Hewson is known to be a champion of pushing the limits of a city with his public projects that redefine the space as a playground, park, construction site, and community centre. The interactive sculpture, play, and reclaimed materials in the exhibition, The Key, under the Mat, encourage all visitors to explore, stay, and interact. The project focuses on inclusivity, trust, and the beauty of spontaneity as it is free of charge with fully functioning installations, making even a subterranean gallery look like a summer landscape full of people.
The 2,200-square-metre chamber that was originally used as an oil reservoir during the Second World War (Nelson Packer Tank) gets a total makeover. Hewson uses salvaged materials and makes a sauna, steam room, and even a fully operational barbecue, as well as a laundromat, recording studio, and playground. The windows have been turned into stained glass, floors and ceilings are tiled with travertine, and pew-like seating made of western red cedar makes one feel the warmth of the old-fashioned space.
Each detail promotes interaction and discovery. Swimsuits, towels, and slides are available to the visitors to hire or bring their own, and the cavernous echoes are tamed with acoustic curtains and hundreds of converted lights that imitate daylight to palm trees. The space works on the idea of participation: flipped buckets are set up as a seat, children are running in the playground, and communal gatherings are organically evolving. The philosophy of Hewson, as it is the energy, the people running around, that is the work, makes the audience co-creators of the experience.
The approach proposed by Hewson is based on his experience in the community playgrounds, where he turns a risk into a chance to play and socialize. The Tank is full of history, with the salvaged materials, decommissioned bricks, and marble panels, bringing the history into the space. The playground stretches to the outer edge, providing seating, shade, and conversation areas that create an art-based community atmosphere that resembles a free-spirit Australian summer underground.
The Key under the Mat is an example of how Hewson is devoted to social sculpture- art that is lived, used, and shared. The exhibition combines play, construction, and daily life activities and therefore criticizes classical beliefs of the museum as a passive space. The Tank turns into a regeneration, participation, and curiosity site and makes visitors take an interest in the artwork and each other. It is a celebration of faith, uncertainty, and community bliss, making the underground gallery a summer wonderland.
Sustainability is also a part of the project, as it includes thousands of reused objects and materials, as Hewson believes in re-creating the past to enjoy it today. The Tank is not simply an art space as the exhibition continues to play out, but is rather a living, breathing playground, an experiment in generosity, and a new way of thinking about how a welcoming museum can be.
