New York JFK to Become World-Class Art Destination

DALLAS — New York's John F. Kennedy Airport's (JFK) planned Terminal 6 (T6) is set to become a destination for world-class art in 2026 thanks to an art budget of US$22 million funded by JFK Millennium Partners (JMP).

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and JMP, the company to build and operate the US$4.2 billion T6, announced yesterday that 18 artists would debut new public art commissions for the 2026 T6 opening.

The art initiative is overseen by the Public Art Fund, an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to art in public places.

World-Class Artists, World-Class Airport

The featured artists, including ten from New York City (Sky Hopinka, Charles Gaines, and Barbara Kruger are notable mentions), will capture New York's essence through various artworks interwoven throughout the terminal.

The group also includes many artists based in New York City or New York State but born abroad, such as Felipe Baeza and Uman from Mexico and Somalia, respectively.

Now that the list boasting world-renowned artists is etched in stone, JFK is on track to have the greatest permanent art collection of any New York airport, following the recent exhibition of new public artwork by the Port Authority at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in Queens and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).

LaGuardia, Newark's Art Transformations

JFK Millennium Partners, a consortium of private developers headed by the Vantage Group, also backed LGA’s art transformation.

In 2022, LGA's Delta (DL) Terminal C unveiled six large-scale installations by Rashid Johnson, Aliza Nisenbaum, Ronny Quevedo, and others that pay homage to New York's diversity and history, while Terminal B features five more installations.

Meanwhile, EWR received two massive sculptures by Layqa Nuna Yawar and Karyn Olivier.

The Art Capital of the World

Zubin Mehta, the Indian conductor and founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra, famously said that going to New York is like going to the center of the world. The global art market agrees, as do the city's major airport hubs.

In the years following World War II, New York surpassed Paris as the world's art market center. It has been the largest for so long that the fact hardly warrants notice.

Post-9/11, the narrative from the art world has been on globalization and diversification. Art markets have expanded throughout the Middle East, Latin America, and China, and there was a recent uptick in France.

However, despite the headlines, the phenomena now appears overblown, according to Apollo Art Magazine writer Jane Morris—much of the art market is returning to its post-war roots.

The fact is that New York, the most cosmopolitan and liberal city in the U.S. as well as its wealthiest, remains the art capital of the world. The metropolis' 75-year-long ongoing development of its cultural infrastructure, which now includes its airport system, is a testament to that.