The relationship between contemporary art and the airport comes under the spotlight in Terminal. Appearing at City Gallery Wellington from 15 August, 2020 to 14 February, 2021, the exhibition focuses on art made about the airport, not for it.

City Gallery says Terminal reverses the usual relationship between art and the airport, and is perfectly timed for the new travel reality.

"The global pandemic has intensified the key themes of migration, globalisation, and the ethics and politics of flight that this exhibition holds. The artists address the airport as a site, form, or symbol by challenging its iconography and processes."

Terminal includes parodies of airport security instruction videos, photographs developed by the x-ray baggage scanner, a performance staged on the runway of Berlin's Tempelhof Airport, photographs of confiscated objects at JFK Airport, and two films set in an abandoned airport in Athens.

The exhibition features a list of international artists: John Akomfrah (UK), Ed Atkins (UK), Marco Brambilla (Italy/US), Walead Beshty (US), Lauren Brincat (Australia), Thomas Demand (Germany), Simon Denny (New Zealand), Charles and Ray Eames (US), Andreas Gursky (Germany), Naeem Mohaiemen (Bangladesh/US), Adrian Paci (Albania), Alex Prager (US), and Taryn Simon (US).

Image: Elias Rodriguez.