We are thrilled to be able to exhibit this video installation, made in 2000 by the 2007 Turner prize-winning artist Mark Wallinger.
The narrative is simple, passengers arriving at London City Airport’s International Arrivals terminal come through the double doors toward a static camera. Some of the travellers stride forward with business-like determination, some have people waiting to greet them. The final arrival looks confused as he checks and rechecks a scrap of paper. Is this the destination he was expecting?
Heavenly voices singing Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere Me Deus (text from Psalm 51), lend a religious aura to the unfolding 11 minutes of arrivals. The video appears to have a double meaning: arrival at the United Kingdom, but also at the kingdom of heaven, with a border guard playing the role of St. Peter.
Wallinger, who represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2000, was also one of the YBAs in the 1997 Sensation exhibition.
Meet on the hour at the gate at the top of The Lawn to be taken up to the exhibition in groups. Allow between 30 minutes and an hour.
Mark Wallinger
Threshold to the Kingdom, 2000
Projected video installation
11 mins, 20 secs
Copyright the artist
Courtesy Hauser & Wirth
Loaned by Stuart & Margaret Evans