This Hidden Gate at Austin-Bergstrom Airport Allows You to Print a Boarding Pass to a Fictional Destination

The city of Austin is rapidly expanding, and with that the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is following suit. In recent years, the airport has announced plans for a new concourse, revamped food and beverage offerings, and additional parking structures. With travel demands continuously ramping up in Austin, the air hub has also added new flight routes and even a very unique gate that offers imaginary destinations that are truly out of this world.

This gate at Austin-Bergstrom, standing apart from the rest, is Janet Zweig’s “Interimaginary Departures” art installation. It doesn’t have a squabble of eager passengers waiting to board or an annoyed airline employee (but there is a gift shop and restaurant nearby). Here at “Gate ∞” is a portal where travelers can stop checking the time and let their imaginations run wild. This airport gate rivals some of the more bizarre airport attractions in the world as it transports travelers, if only for a moment, to a place they only dreamed of going.

This unique installation created by Janet Zweig, a Brooklyn-based artist, quietly opened in 2021 in place of where gate 13 at the airport sat. The piece was commissioned by the City of Austin’s Art in Public Places project and acts as a portal to transport your mind to 120 different mythical destinations seen all across pop culture and media. Zweig’s background in immersive sculpture and installations gave her the concept to create a public piece of art that appealed to a broad audience of travelers, which the best airports for public art do in creative ways. Zweig was also inspired by the novel “The City and the City” where two cities notably existed in the same place. Here at “Gate ∞” at Austin-Bergstrom, stressed-out travelers can stop for a moment to imagine being in two places at once.

@readysetjetset

This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen at an airport! 📍Interimaginary Destinations at Austin Airport #austintexasthings #tiktoktravel #travel #atx

♬ Pure Imagination – Kathleen

The scroll of destinations to choose from at the “Interimaginary Departures” gate in Austin brings travelers a mixture of pleasure and nostalgia. Fans of DC Comics will likely choose Gotham City as their destination, home to stories of Batman and his allies and foes, while the Harry Potter lovers will flock to Hogwarts in an instant. Computer gamers can print out a boarding pass to SimCity, where travelers could be a part of the virtual cities they once created themselves. From Shangri-La to Neverland and Narnia, the list of unique locales is seemingly unending. If you have a few extra minutes before your next flight or during your layover in Austin, make time to see this unique airport installation that is surprisingly easy to locate.