Liminal Spaces: A journey to the edges of reality

The place where you find yourself now is so vast, completely empty of any presence... as if everything there was set there just for you.

You might feel free to do as you please or finally find serenity outside the constant hubbub of modern life. Take a dip in this huge body of water, after all why not?

You could do all that, but something is wrong and you can’t put your finger on it. A strange longing feeling comes over you. Everything seems so familiar but you have no recollections and memories of being there. Something about this place also reminds you of beautiful things you experienced in your past, good memories that make you smile slightly. However, these beautiful things are no more, the laughter and voices of loved ones give way to silence.

The muffled sound of a breeze, the hum of a sizzling neon sign, only loneliness remains. You are totally alone. The shadows of the few objects left in this space draw cold silhouettes, like mute spectators staring intently at you in your growing anguish. The light is clear, too pure, you are not supposed to feel fear but you feel its symptoms.

Your throat is tight, your chest constricted, your breathing is heavy, it resonates within you. The same question has been running through your mind ever since you got here.

“ Where Am I ?”

Liminal spaces are those weird, atmospheric, and sometimes eerie places, that look like the gateway to another realm.

Liminal spaces. Are you familiar with this word? You probably haven’t heard of it in your life because the term, both obscure and contemplative, only appeared on the internet for the first time in 2019. On May 12, 2019 to be exact. In the deep end of the 4chan forum topics in the /x/ paranormal category, an anonymous user shares his post disquieting images that just feel ‘off’. The post, far from going unnoticed by other users of the platform, is then relayed on the reddit r/ LiminalSpace page. It is from this moment that the phenomenon gains in popularity and interest. A series of strangely familiar videos with unnerving music appear in the youtube recommendations of enthusiasts of bizarre happenings. A hashtag #LiminalSpaces is born on Twitter and Tiktok. Publications with this hashtag have accumulated more than 16 million views in May 2021. They now have over 35 million views.

But first of all, it would be wise to know what a liminal space is. How to define these very special places, which manage to fascinate an audience of this scale. The basic principle is not as complicated as it seems. A simple Google search will give you hundreds of results which will lead you to the Latin root of the word; limen which translates as ‘threshold’. A liminal space is thus the moment between “what was” and “what is to come”. It is the “crossing over” space – a space where you have left something behind, yet you are not yet fully in something else. It’s a transition space.

All the photos and videos you will find on the subject ultimately hold the same codes. Vast places, completely empty, not a single human or animal is present in these images. They represent urban places (you won’t find a liminal space without any element related to the presence of humans, a wild forest is not a liminal space for example), insalubrious places (abandoned car park, old degraded hotel room, ...) or sometimes much too neat and tidy (empty airport, hospital corridors, ...). And notably incoherent environments: light that is not natural in places where it is not supposed to be, repeated architecture, too identical, that doesn’t make sense.The photographs are generally very grainy and of questionable quality, as ifthey were taken with a film camera or even an old telephone. Hence the fact that one can imagine these images being taken with a very raw, badly regulated flash. This makes us think that the photo was taken in the dark. The flash takes away the depth of the place, emphasizing the unreal and destabilizing effect of the place. This artificial light in the photos is similar to the photos people take in everyday life, which explains the feeling of familiarity one can feel when observing them.

The fascination of Internet users with the concept can be explained in different ways. Indeed, there are several reasons why liminal spaces have become so popular. First of all, one of the most important elements to highlight when talking about liminal places is the aesthetics of the memory. What captivated so many people about these places, apart from the nostalgia and melancholy, was above all the fact that (almost) everyone had this strange feeling of déjà vu. How is it possible that someone I don’t know from Adam, or even several people, and myself, feel the same emotions when looking at these images? Rooted in the past, the whole aesthetic of these images is created to resemble memories, or at least the visual idea that one might have of a memory. As we all know, a memory decays, the liminal aesthetic also borrows from this effect. Thus, most of these images/ videos use codes from childhood (nurseries, theme parks, swimming pools) linked to childhood traumas (being alone in the city at night or in the supermarket, ...) and connects with another important element that constitutes the essence of liminal spaces: the aesthetics of dreams.

The aesthetics of the dream, or nightmare, revives the sense of incoherence I mentioned earlier. In relation to our nightmares too, it is in trying to reproduce what we see in our dreams that distressing and troubling emotions resurface. Moreover, the total absence of a person allows us to better identify with the image. It is much easier to remember a repetitive and simple place than a face. With a person, the aspect of loneliness disappears. The photo is thus taken from a first person point of view as if we had wandered into the wrong place. As if we were in a dream.

And finally, in a more pragmatic way, the discomfort felt when we look at these images can be explained by science. Indeed, our brain is a context machine (thesis from Danko Nikolic). By taking away this context, the why of those things that are as they are, a huge dissonance between what we see and what is supposed to be is created. A dissonance which, therefore, animates a sense of confusion, of unease.

However, I should point out that these images do not necessarily work every time for an obvious reason: for a European, most of these images are made by Americans. So there is also a cultural factor to take into account (e.g. deserted gas stations that look like American gas stations, diners, old roadside motels or other typically American places that don’t resonate with our European memories, hence the ineffectiveness of some images. Yet, if you are from Eastern European countries, you will be able to find this same type of content adapted to the architectural and cultural characteristics of your country!

It is important to consider that the concept of liminal space is more an aesthetic than a truly terrifying feature. To caricature it could even be said that it is only about empty places. Empty places that are not necessarily frightening, but rather calm or even peaceful. However, it is entirely possible to see the concept used as such in horror content. So to close this article, I highly recommend watching the short film The Backrooms Found Footage by Kane Pixels which perfectly captures the feeling of infinity and anguish that liminal places bring. And which will also lead you to the world of backrooms, an urban legend created by thrill-seeking internet users.

So what do you think ? What feelings do you get from Liminal Spaces ?

Carole Alibert

Sources: sabukaru.online Solar Sands Liminal Spaces Feldup