liminal space

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English

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Dead malls are often the subjects of liminal space images.

Etymology

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From liminal (of or pertaining to an entrance or threshold) + space, due to originally focusing on "in-between" spaces such as hallways and stairwells.

Noun

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liminal space (plural liminal spaces)

  1. (aesthetic) A depiction of an empty or abandoned place, often made to appear unsettling, surreal, or nostalgic.
    • 2022 November 1, Jake Pitre, “The Eerie Comfort of Liminal Spaces”, in The Atlantic[1], Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 1 November 2022:
      In fact, the most uncanny contemporary liminal spaces combine the familiarity of, say, a New York City tourist magnet with an unnatural emptiness. Then again, a liminal space can be somewhere you could imagine dreaming about or seeing on TV. It can be tinged with tragedy or just inexplicably sad in its ordinariness. Liminal spaces can be both comforting and discomforting, nostalgic and unsettling, intimate and unnatural.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see liminal,‎ space.

See also

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Further reading

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