Glastonbury’s Terminal 1 is back: ‘Be prepared to be deeply moved and then completely uplifted’

First introduced to Glastonbury Festival last year, Terminal 1 is a space designed to encourage conversation within the midst of Worthy Farm’s temple to hedonism. Situated next to the festival’s giant scrap metal sculpture Carhenge, the space operates under the ethos of ‘No Human Is Illegal’, providing a vital commentary on the plight of migrants whilst also promoting the work of a diverse and international community of artists and performers.

Terminal 1 at Glastonbury Festival 2025

Curated by Oriana Garzón and produced by Paula Clark, with Miguel Torres Umba returning as creative consultant and performance director, the central experience within the area is an immersive walk-through – designed to replicate the border control experience of migrants attempting to gain access to the UK.

Attendees are first required to answer a question from the UK citizenship test, with wrong answers sending them to the back of the queue. Those that pass the initial barrier are then sent through three escalating cabins, the first designed like a refugee camp, the second an installation entitled Jungle Gym, conceptualised by Turner Prize-winning artist Mark Wallinger, and the third a harsh confrontation with border police.

'Part of the creative process in the beginning was from my personal experience,' Garzón, who was born in Colombia, explains. 'When I was designing Terminal 1 with our team, I was doing the exam for the UK Leave To Remain, so we took inspiration from that. It’s a very personal space for me. When the sign of Terminal 1 was hung, I was on the phone with the lawyers submitting my papers. It was like a movie; very profound.'

The signage is salvaged from Heathrow Terminal 1, while the bar is adorned with specially commissioned textiles, reimagining the flags of the world in intricate, African fabrics. For his part, Wallinger created Jungle Gym around the idea of play, and how limited the access for migrant children can be to these spaces of innocence.

'I was thinking about the children in all this – the ones that have no say and no power. And at the same time I was thinking about the UN and Unicef, and some bodies of hope that have impact, but also these superpowers that attempt to stymy that at every turn,” he explains. 'The installation binds this vision of childhood and play, with a jungle gym at the centre of it, but the whole thing has been occluded by a maze of chainlink fencing. I wanted to make something that had an ideal of childhood, but then [contrasted by] the actuality for so many people.'

Alongside the installation, Terminal 1 will host live performances across the weekend and is also home to La Linterna – a Colombian print shop that will be live-screenprinting bespoke designs for the festival, as well as selling prints made on its home letterpress machines, which date back to 1860. It’s one of several initiatives across Terminal 1 that make active contributions to improving the lives of the communities they’re working alongside.

The bar is run by the Cleaners and Workers Alliance Union, while the team have provided ten mentorships giving people from Africa, Pakistan and elsewhere the chance to learn venue management and production.

'Festivals are not just about escape, they’re about possibilities. And it’s rare you have a better canvas than Glastonbury Festival to deliver a message like this,' says Garzón. 'I think Terminal 1 brings another kind of energy to the site and invites critical thinking but emotional engagement too. It’s important we make a space for these kinds of installations at these kinds of festivals. At Terminal 1, you have to be prepared to be deeply moved and then completely uplifted. That’s the experience.'