Liminality In Web Aesthetics

Firstly, i think more people need to know about liminal spaces, they are so terrifyingly comforting.

True to its etymology ("liminal is derived from the Latin word limen, meaning threshold), the concept of a liminal space classically encompasses physical spaces that, due to their function, are transitional - hallways, waiting rooms, parking lots and rest stops are archetypal examples of such places. Liminal space aesthetics relate to the unique and combined feeling of eeriness, nostalgia, and apprehension one gets when presented with such places outside of their designed context. Most notably, their function as intermediary points between origin and destination. For instance, an empty stairwell or hospital corridor at night might appear as sinister or uncanny because these places are usually brimming with life and movement. Therefore, the absence of external stimuli (such as conversations, people moving around, or any kind of dynamism) creates an otherworldly and forlorn atmosphere.

some examples of the genre are :

• churches in Texas
• abandoned 7/11's
• your bedroom at 5 am
• hospitals at midnight
• warehouse that smell like dust
• lighthouses with lights that don't work anymore
• empty parking lots
• ponds and lakes in suburban neighborhoods
• rooftops in the early morning
• inside a dark cabinet
• playgrounds at night
• rest stops on highways
• deep in the mountains
• early in the morning wherever it's just snowed
• trails by the highway just out of earshot of traffic
• schools during breaks
• those little beaches right next to ferry docks
• your friends living room once everybody but you is asleep
• laundromats at midnight
• stairwells
• galleries in art museums that are empty except for you
• the lighting section of home depot

These places feel weird when you're in them because their existence is not about themselves, but the things before and after them. They have no definitive place outside of the relationship to the spaces you are coming from and going to. Reality feels altered here because we're not really supposed to be in them for a long time for think about them as their own entities, and when we do they seem odd and out of place.

The other spaces feel weird because our brains are hard-wired for context - we like things to belong to a certain place and time and when we experience those things outside of the context our brains have developed them, our brains are like 'Nope. This isn't right get out abort abort.'. Schools not in session, empty museums, being awake when other people are asleep - all these things and spaces feel weird because our brain is like "I already have a context for this space and this is not it so must be dangerous." Our rational understanding can sometimes override that immediate "danger" impulse but we're left with a feeling of wariness and unease.

Are interested now?