Liminal Spaces
According to The Internet
“Liminal Space” has now become some difficult-to-articulate amalgamation of visual aesthetic and ‘vibe’ (per Gen Z kids: a strong feeling with loose definitions).
Liminality as a concept has been around since at least the early 1900s and it was (formerly?) defined as the psychological condition of being on the threshold of a new life stage.
I like the new use better. God knows I seek out the aesthetic often enough: Human spaces rendered eerie by a lack of humans. Since the pandemic my office has been one of those spaces. Cubicles and offices left as they were some time in March of 2020. Add in that I work later than 90% of the people in the building and even the studios take on a Ghost Town air by the time I do my final walk-around.
Another local favorite was Selma Layne Park in the January fog. Too cold and wet for kids and dogs, too dark for suburbanites, with the peculiar acoustics of heavy fog…perfect liminal space at the corner of Shepherd and Maple.
But liminality – the real, psychological process of transitioning – is another thing altogether. I do not like having my boat rocked despite understanding that stability is the truly unnatural state of being.
I shore up my world as best as I can with behaviors I would like reciprocated. I’m loyal to my friends, family, and employer. I’m simple in my tastes and expectations. I give an honest effort in any project I commit to. I am an open book, despite keeping other’s secrets well.
I’m not perfect in any of this, but I try, and it usually serves me well.
Now my boat is being rocked
Some of it is self-imposed, some of it is inevitable, and some of it feels like a door may be closing….even if I’m not the one who started it swinging.
Is the draw of “Liminal Spaces” as internet-chic photography fad the emptiness against the unchanged? A visual safe-space where the problematic humans have been subtracted from otherwise non-threatening environments?
Looking at the Paul Pelosi attack and the subsequent shitty behavior by political performance artists and the click-bait media, and understanding how much of those same elements led directly to the attack in the first place, I understand why normal people check out. No decent human being wants to absorb that energy, and the stone stupid troglodyte (I love that word) who gets their jollies from the cruelty of the scene is the opposite of who I want making decisions and influencing public policy.
The loudest get the press
…not the smartest or the wisest. We’re in a place that is crushing anyone who isn’t here for bloodsport, and it’s bad for America and our souls.