Inspired by James Saull and Andrew Shillaber... it's my turn!
There are some beautiful and original works of art in London Heathrow's new Terminal 5. Most of them already owned or recently commissioned by British Airways.
All of them - tucked away in the premium lounges for only the small percentage of privileged customers who get to travel at the front of the aircraft.
That's a shame... especially as some of them are digital and interactive, like this:
These kinds of works are delightful, inspirational, original and inspiring, and they should be available for us all. It's not like we can just book in to go visit T5 like we would an art gallery - so when we do go there once or twice a year, it would be nice to be able to see it!
There is one original piece of art commissioned specially for T5 that is in the public area, but that was done by BAA - the British Airports Authority.
Here's what Ginny McGrath at The Times said:
Art is not a new venture for BA. The carrier has a collection of over 1,500 works by artists including Peter Doig, who is currently exhibiting at the Tate Britain, and Anish Kapoor, Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst.
Sadly only BA staff and a minority of its passengers enjoy these works because they are hung at the BA headquarters at Waterside, near Heathrow, and in airport lounges around the world, accessible only to premium passengers and frequent flyers.
Full article and video tour here
T5 does look cool - the passenger experience reinvented I guess, but equally the revamped Terminal 3 East development and the next stage of redeveloping Terminal 1 will be pretty awesome too! I went into T3 and Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class Wing the other week, and that was UNBELIEVEABLE...