The world's busiest airport gives local artists a first-class seat

Stunning stat: According to program officials, an artwork in a prominent location in the airport could be seen by as many people in 10 days as visit MoMA in a year.

• Put another way: In an average month, 8.7 million people move through ATL. In all of 2023, the Louvre, the world's busiest museum, welcomed 8.9 million visitors.

What they're saying: "The goal is to use the airport as a platform to elevate local artists and create an engaging environment for passengers," ATL Airport Art senior manager Benjamin Austin told Axios.

Catch up quick: Public art is part of the airport's DNA; the first 14 pieces were commissioned to mark the domestic terminal's 1980 opening under then-Mayor Maynard Jackson, a vocal arts advocate.

• It wasn't until after the 1996 Olympics that the city hired a small team to curate rotating and permanent exhibitions and grow the airport's collection, which now numbers more than 1,000.
• Some pieces, including the loved/hated super-sized ants that used to crawl on the ceiling, are in storage.

Fun fact: The Zimbabwean sculpture collection between the Concourse T and A is one of the largest outside of the country.

What they're saying: Atlanta artist Tori Tinsley told Axios she's heard from people around the world about her installations in the airport. So have other exhibiting artists, she said.

• "Atlanta has started cementing its place as a beacon in the art world, and I see the airport art program as an integral part in that process."

Zoom in: Every year, more than a dozen spaces in the airport host roughly 35 exhibits of sculpture, photography or installations.

• Passengers could pass the work of Georgia K-12 students (more than 300 every year in the T Gates and Concourse E) or crayon sculptures by Herb Williams (ascending elevator to Concourse D) on the way to their gate.
• The program regularly partners with local curators to feature established and emerging talents from Atlanta and around the country. Artists are welcome to contact the arts program directly, Jess Bernhart, a program manager, told Axios.

How it works: Commissioned works are funded by the city's percent-for-art ordinance that requires a percentage of capital construction budgets be allocated toward public art. Rotating exhibitions are funded through annual budget appropriations.

• Exhibition installations must take place from 10pm to 5am when the airport shuts down to passenger flights and becomes a beehive of construction and maintenance activity.

Take a tour

If you're a certain kind of traveler, you're arriving at the airport early. Get your steps in, get cultured, and save yourself excessive spending on neck pillows.

T Gates

The post-screening area features work by local artists William Downs, Gavin Bernard, Krista Clark and other names.

• The T Gates are also the location of the art program's relatively new short story dispenser.

"Flight Paths"

The late artist Steve Waldeck's permanent installation between Concourse A and B is the largest piece of public art in Atlanta and the airport's most Instagrammed work, officials say.

• There's even an Instagram account devoted to travelers who make pilgrimages to the installation.
• The "narrative forest" includes the sounds of native birds and crickets, thousands of aluminum panels and more than 25,000 LED lights.

Concourse E

The E stands for e-stounding, folks. Designers of the former international terminal — built in the mid-1990s to handle global travelers attending the Olympics — included spaces at each gate to showcase artists from the South.

• Work on display includes Craig Nutt's "corncob plane" suspended from the ceiling, Joni Mabe's gilded portraits of American characters and Radcliffe Bailey's "Saints" spanning over the escalators.

Finish your tour with a drink or a bite at the James Beard-nominated One Flew South.

What's next

Travelers who skip the Plane Train and speed walk between terminals — the underground corridor with moving walkways and Plane Train stops is the "transportation mall" — will notice some big changes in 2025.

• A celebration of the airport's centennial called "Blue Skies" takes over the ho-hum segment between Concourses D and E. 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the city's decision to lease an abandoned racetrack which became the airport we know today.
• Artist RaMell Ross is testing the prototype for a lenticular print — think of the animation you'd see on baseball cards — planned to run the length of the moving walkways between Concourses C and D.

Also planned: A study of Lightning, a historic Black neighborhood demolished to build the Georgia Dome and a major exhibition by independent Atlanta curator Makeda Lewis.