‘Reminder we are all humans’: Glastonbury’s Terminal 1 shows dark side of arriving in UK

You approach a desk and are met by two stern immigration officials. A line of instructions and questions are barked at you: “Stand shoulder to shoulder”; “Look me in the eyes”; “Are you British?”

This is the welcome visitors receive at Terminal 1, a new area at this year’s Glastonbury festival ran by artists who are all migrants and which gives attenders a taste of what it feels like to sample British border “hospitality”.

Emblazoned with the old sign from Heathrow’s Terminal 1, the new area had a long line outside it on Saturday morning as dozens of festival-goers waited their turn to be grilled.

To enter Terminal 1, they must answer a question from the British citizenship test. If they do not know, for example, that members of the public typically cannot attend a youth court hearing, entry could be denied.

“When the audience come through this we’re hoping for them to have a bit of an awakening,” says Miguel Hernando Torres Umba, the performance director. He said he wanted people to come away with an experience of what immigration was like for “the majority of people around the globe”.

The area has already been dubbed the “woke new stage” by the Daily Mail but Hernando Torres Umba says the area’s themes are universal. “Terminal 1’s message is no one is illegal. That is our message … to remind us all that we all humans, we are all migrants one way or another,” he added.

Ahead of the event’s launch, a real immigration issue presented the team with a problem: one of the curators had his visa denied. “He wasn’t able to attend the festival even though he had the backing of the festival,” says Hernando Torres Umba.

The theme of immigration can be found everywhere Glastonbury this year.

Banksy’s latest Glastonbury stunt – sending out an inflatable dinghy with dummies representing child migrants during Idles’ headlining set – ensured the issue of immigration was beamed out live on the BBC.

The topic has been one of the overarching themes of the upcoming general election, whether Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats”, Keir Starmer and Labour’s plan to establish a “command centre” to deter those trying to enter across the British Channel or Reform’s promise of “net zero migration”.

Another obvious reference at the area is the Rwanda bill, the Conservative plan to send asylum seekers to the east African country.

Terminal 1 approaches the topic in a novel way: after the initial barrage of questions and a terse security check, you enter “Rwanda Duty Free” where you are told about the culture of a country that has found itself in the middle of a culture war in the UK.

Hernando Torres Umba said the area was designed as a counter to the prevailing negative narrative about Rwanda, with artists from the country welcoming visitors. “Rwanda has been used as a deterrent, as a place we should be scared of,” he said. “But Rwandans haven’t had the right to speak and say: ‘Hey, this is where we are’.”