Terminality Part 1/3
See also: Terminality 2/3 and Terminality 3/3 and a design project derived from these ideas: RELAMINATE.
Crossing the threshold of security one enters a zone of purity. Without nationality this site loses all territoriality. Life does not cease in this zone. On the contrary, all of the amenities of life on earth are offered in far greater concentration than we typically know in our cities. It is pure McDonalds, pure shoe shine, pure InStyle, pure waiting, pure transit, pure site.
The sterile zone of an international airport is not part of a specific place but simply rests on top of and occasionally makes connections via sight lines to a specific place. This is a site defined by international law rather than a moment of geography or built environment.
In control zones, spatial strategies are defined by the machinations of a fear apparatus and the acts of technical divination. Queues funnel passengers through metal detectors and x ray machines looking for weapons but finding underwire bras and thick-soled shoes. Vision and memory are strictly controlled: One must not take pictures and one can not view their own bags through the x ray. Even the inspector's hand is turned away from our bodies during a pat-down. In this zone perception is unidirectional.
In the more benign areas, specific spatial configurations are the result of ratios and figures. Food stalls, shops, seats, and gates are rolled out as if pre-printed on the carpet that fills a new terminal. There are no mailboxes here because there is nowhere for letters to be sent from.
In the air a city hustles and bustles. Businessmen reply to emails and sip individually portioned cocktails. Children sleep, people watch movies, stand in line, do exercises. Still others are eating, dying, fighting, having sex. The population is neatly atomized by an index of seats, rows, and aircraft numbers where everyone has a specific address but are still nowhere.
Entering the customs area we become most acutely aware of impending release from the zone of purity. It is here that the welcoming country becomes suspicious of us, as if we are bringing the plague of purity with us. To make sure that purity is neatly contained in the international sterile zone, customs officials check documents, inspect baggage, judge one�s character, and finally let one through. Maybe.
Those who are deemed unable to shed their purity are forbidden to leave the sterile zone and must create for themselves a new life. This is the life of Merhan Karimi Nasseri (�Sir, Alfred�) citizen of Nowhere for the past 15 years.
Ed. Note: This may be a lie.
--Posted 11/03/03 10:13PM