It’s 4pm on a Thursday and I’m in a sauna underground at the Art Gallery of NSW, the hot, cedarwood-scented air a sharp contrast to the cool concrete cavern I’ve just stepped in from. Inside the gallery’s subterranean Tank – a 2,200 sq metre chamber that was once a second world war oil reservoir – Sydney-based artist Mike Hewson has repurposed a 1980s shed, gutting its faux-wood veneer and replacing it with western red cedar, from which he’s also created ornate church-style pews for seating. The windows are now stained glass; the floor and ceiling are lined with travertine tiles left over from one of the gallery’s older wings.
Clearly, this is no ordinary sauna. It’s one of several surprising sculptural works in Hewson’s playful exhibition The Key’s Under the Mat, opening this weekend. There are also change rooms, a steam room, barbecue, sound recording studio, laundromat and playground – all fully functional. You can borrow towels, shorts, slides and T-shirts for free, or bring your own swimsuit (no bikinis).
