Helios and the concrete playground
Two pieces of installation art have stuck in my mind since I experienced them earlier this year.
Helios and The Key's Under the Mat couldn't be more different. The former is concentrated, untouchable, and inspired by beauty of the highest natureāthe sunāwhilst the latter is far spread out, interaction-heavy, and basks in its nitty gritty underground environment.
Both are the third place I've always wanted.
Mike Hewson - The Key's Under the Mat
NSW Art Gallery, Australia. I didn't know what to expect when I went down the stairs labeled Nelson Packer Tank, but it wasn't this.
The Key's Under the Mat is essentially a giant underground park. There's a small map at the front, but it's fun fun fun to explore every aspect yourself.
There's the standard playground fares and pits and swings and some sort of structure to climb on. But there's also a changing room and laundry and water play areas, plus two saunas installed within an old site shed and milk vat.
The place is made for families and friends to get together, with multiple public barbeque plates. Unlike other exhibitions, you can bring food to eat anywhere you want. There's even a DJ booth for late night Wednesdays.
It was so exciting to explore! The park's just full of novel stuff to look at and play with. Most of its content is reclaimed or reused from other sources, so it scratched the part of my brain that loves making scrapbooks to see and touch and feel different textures and colors.
Indoor parks are not a unique concept, but there is no other like The Key's Under the Mat. Typical play parks create a wonderland exclusively for kids, with bright colors and painted mascots and smooth, nonabrasive experiences.
The Key's Under the Mat, in its grittiness, feels real. Some might call it dystopian, but the concrete room and hard, implastic materials are so roughly naturalistic in a way that's far closer to outdoor parks for everyone.
Of course, go play outside in the sunlight if you have the choice. But there's an obvious benefit to this sort of space at night and on rainy days, which Sydney has an abundance of.
And beyond that, it's a free, indoor place to beāone where you can just enjoy yourself, explore, shoot the breeze with friends and eat whatever without any expectations of money or actions.
It's fun for kids to play in while providing adults with unrestricted leisure as well. Rare that exists, even in public indoor spaces like libraries and community halls and the upper floors of the art gallery itself.
Luke Jerram - Helios
Back in New Zealand, I went to Helios after a show. I had been before, but in this instance I was with a friend who I had met for the first time.
It was 8 pm. By this hour, I'd typically split up with my hang. There were no public spaces open, it was too cold to talk outside, and we had already had dinner. But the Helios exhibit was right next door, open until 9āthe perfect setting for post-show gossip.
In the small Town Hall, Helios is overwhelming. It looms overhead, its internal light the only luminance in the room.
How large the sun is. You are gripped by its presence. The art is animated with a rippling surface that make looking at a giant orb for an hour engrossing. It invites you to do so. Beanbags on the first floor, tiered seating above.
We sat for an hour and talked about random shit. In the light of Helios, everything was so dark it felt like you could really let loose. If the conversation ever slowed, there was something shared to fill that gap.
Again, Helios created an enclosed space to be freeāfree to enter and free to be idle and enjoy or loiter for the sake of itāwith an atmosphere perfect for mindless chatter in any weather.
Art as a third place
The term 'third place' is frequently misused. I am in fact misusing it here in this blog post. But many now do understand it as a 'place where you can converse with others, typically for free' and so I will use that definition.
Of course these places require constant maintenance and staff to keep watch, and so they rarely do exist indoors. The closest are shopping malls, art galleries, and libraries. Libraries are the most like what I want, though they aren't always open late nor are all libraries so receptive to constant conversation.
But The Key's Under the Mat and Helios in the Town Hall both encapsulate that popular definition perfectly, despite having near-exact opposite concepts and atmospheres. And they, as a setting, being art is what lets them exist!
That is mostly to say that I don't think a free indoor space for doing nothing could be funded unless it was artwork. But also that the setting being artwork gives people reason to go out and enjoy it and realize they want to go again with friends and more, building public spaces and connections.
It's art as the conversation starter at the highest level and accessible beyond the private sphere.
The Key's Under the Mat is still showing in Sydney, Australia until 23 August 2026. Helios tours worldwide, being displayed at multiple locations at once. If you have the chance to check out either, I highly recommend it.