Liminal Spaces: Yearning in the Ruins of Modernity
How liminal spaces are unlikely windows into heaven
If you’ve been on the internet the past few years you’ve probably heard of liminal spaces. They are a unique product of internet culture and an intriguing phenomenon. But what exactly are they, and why the growing appeal?
Dictionary.com describes them as “A state or place characterized by being transitional or intermediate in some way,” or “Any location that is unsettling, uncanny, or dreamlike.” The aesthetics wiki gives a more extended definition:
“Liminal space aesthetics consists of any room, corridor, or hallway that is big and empty, yet carries an eerie and unsettling vibe with it; this part is key in separating the Liminal Space aesthetic from just a regular photo of an empty room, corridor or hallway.”
You’ll likely see however that even that definition is inadequate. At face value it is baffling that such a thing would be so popular, but I believe there is more than meets the eye.
In fact, I believe that in some oblique way liminal spaces are a way of seeking heaven in the mundane.
My Personal Experience
Where did my personal interest in liminal spaces begin?
They intrigued me before I knew a name for them. Growing up in the suburbs, I would wander the neighborhood and imagine that there was something mysterious or otherworldly about it.
In grade school, for example, there was a dark corner of the library which I was told was a portal to another dimension – I believed it.
I was also a fan of MYST, the hit 90’s computer game which is full of eerie and mysterious liminal spaces, as well as aspects of the numinous.
It contained disjointed “ordinary” items, such as a rocket ship, gears, a planetarium, and books which are actually portals.
More recently my interest has taken the form of watching ambient liminal space videos on YouTube. I also recently discovered “Pools,” a liminal space video game that allows one to walk through the “poolrooms.”
Types and Categories of Liminal Spaces
There are a variety of popular liminal space locations, though the list is not exhaustive:
PlayPlaces (particularly McDonalds)
Grocery Stores
High Schools
Suburban streets
Hallways
The Backrooms (endless labyrinth of empty office space)
The Pool Rooms (endless labyrinth of indoor pools and water slides)
Malls
Apartment Complexes
The caveat is that all these are totally empty and sometimes contain absurd or impossible elements.
There are also sub-categories, for example, kenopsia which is defined as “the eerie atmosphere of a place that is usually bustling with people but now abandoned.”
The aesthetic of vaporwave is also frequently present in liminal spaces, especially with malls, but it is also its own distinct thing. Vaporwave is characterized by neon colors and slowed down 80’s pop music.
Finally there is often an element of nostalgia and familiarity in liminal spaces.
For millennials particularly, PlayPlaces and school hallways spark memories of childhood and adolescence.
Another reason for the familiarity is because there is so much uniformity in American architecture that a generic photo of a suburban street or grocery store looks like every other of its kind.
Why are Liminal Spaces so Compelling?
Their appeal is mysterious, but here are a few explanations. One I call “nothing-but with a twist.”
According to this theory, liminal spaces take the “nothing but” world of modernity and add a twist, even if that twist is simply that it is nighttime and deserted (kenopsia). Or more fantastic like the backrooms (a boring office becomes a terrifying labyrinth).
This is similar to what C.S. Lewis did in his Narnia series. He took ordinary things and made them extraordinary (i.e. a wardrobe, lamppost, and animals).
Another theory is playing a game of “what if.” This is what artists and writers (mainly fantasy and SciFi) ask constantly: “what if…” Think of the Twilight Zone: an ordinary neighborhood… But what if everyone were secretly aliens?
Both of these bring me to my main point: the appeal of liminal spaces has something to do with yearning.
Rebelling Against the Mundane
This yearning is a sort of judgment and criticism on the world as it is.
Mankind is hard-wired for the transcendent. However, in modernity we are constantly confronted with the mundane and banal: strip malls, suburbs, grocery stores and their like.
Whether intentionally or not, our cities and buildings are designed in a way that that kills the spirit and the sense of the transcendent. Brutalism and functionalism send the message that all that matters is practicality, and ornamentation is superfluous.
Despite this, we seek the transcendent more than ever.
As rebellion, the liminal space phenomenon shows that even if there are no more Cathedrals, towering pillars, gargoyles, and marble statues, we will infuse our world with magic nonetheless, by whatever means available.
It is like Jesus’ words: “I tell you that if these keep silent, the very stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40). However, in our case the stones have kept silent and we must cry out.
Arcade Fire’s album The Suburbs also depicts this rebellion. The lyrics describe the way the modern world tries to kill the spirit, but fails.
This sentiment is expressed in Sprawl II:
They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
These days I feel my life has no purpose
But late at night the feelings swim to the surface.
Also, like myself they find magic in the suburbs despite its uninspiring surface:
The dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains and there’s no end in sight.
The Numinous in Liminal Spaces
Finally, liminal spaces are full the numinous. They are unlikely windows into heaven because they evoke mysterium tremendum, the feeling of something extraordinary, profound, terrifying, and fascinating.
They are not “heavenly” in the traditional sense of being beautiful or paradisal.
This same numinosity is present in creepypastas, the internet’s version of campfire stories. Though more macabre than liminal spaces, creepypastas often explore the same themes, and the two even intersect.
Examples include: “lost in the backrooms, I hope I get out before it’s too late.” Or “Ronald McDonald House is Secretly Evil.” The aspect of the numinous evoked here, and in the more creepy liminal spaces is daemonic dread.
Conclusion
Like most numinous things, liminal spaces are shrouded in mystery. But I hope this blog makes their appeal more clear.
And I hope we can take from them the lesson that no matter how mundane one’s surroundings, they can still be infused with magic if we look at them properly.
Finally, I would argue the appeal of liminal spaces is further proof of the existence of heaven itself. As C.S. Lewis said,
“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world” (source).
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