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Liminal space

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Empty hotel hallway
An empty hotel hallway, a common subject of liminal-space imagery

Liminal space is an internet aesthetic centered on depictions of built environments, especially places associated with passage or temporary use.[1][2] In such imagery, the absence of people, activity, or context normally expected in a setting can make familiar places appear uncanny or surreal and may evoke nostalgia, sadness, comfort, or unease.[1][2] The name derives from the anthropological concept of liminality, although its online use is broader and does not always refer to spaces that are literally transitional.[2]

Liminal-space imagery circulated across online platforms in 2019, and the aesthetic became closely associated with the Backrooms, an online urban legend that appeared on 4chan in May 2019.[2][3] Interest increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, when images of unusually empty public spaces became widespread.[1][2] Commentators have linked the aesthetic's appeal to nostalgia and the absence of expected human context; a 2022 study found that deviations from familiar architectural patterns can make built environments appear uncanny.[1][2][4]

Characteristics

Online use of the term is broader and more loosely defined than the anthropological concept of liminality.[2] Some liminal-space images depict places associated with passage or temporary use, such as stairwells, roads, corridors, hotels, waiting rooms, or shopping malls; others show familiar settings without the people, activity, or context normally expected in them.[1][2] Commentators have described the imagery as eerie, surreal, nostalgic, or sad, and as capable of eliciting both comfort and unease.[2]

Hotel corridor at Disney's Contemporary Resort
A corridor at Disney's Contemporary Resort, an example of a space associated with passage
Empty classroom
An empty classroom, shown without its expected occupants

Peter Heft of Pulse: The Journal of Science and Culture has attributed the eeriness of some liminal-space imagery to familiar settings appearing outside their expected context. Drawing on the work of Mark Fisher, Heft describes the unexpected emptiness of a schoolhouse as a "failure of presence" characteristic of the eerie.[5]

In a 2022 study, psychologists Alexander Diel and Michael Lewis found that deviations from familiar structural patterns can produce an uncanny-valley response to built environments.[4]

Commentators have also linked the aesthetic's appeal to nostalgia and personal memory, as familiar visual cues invite viewers to recall or project comparable experiences onto otherwise contextless scenes.[1][2]

Development

Arnold van Gennep introduced the anthropological notion of a liminal phase in Les rites de passage (1909).[6] Van Gennep divided rites of passage into three phases: separation, liminality, and reaggregation or incorporation.[7] Anthropologist Victor Turner later expanded the study of liminality, characterizing the liminal phase as being "betwixt and between" socially recognized positions.[6]: 473 

Large open room with yellow wallpaper, patterned carpet, fluorescent lights, and an opening into an adjoining room
The photograph used in the original Backrooms thread

In 2019, users on 4chan, Reddit, Tumblr, and other online platforms shared imagery associated with the liminal-space aesthetic.[2] The Backrooms, an online urban legend that appeared on 4chan in May 2019, became closely associated with the aesthetic.[2][3] In the thread, one user posted an image of an apparently vacant, yellow-carpeted interior lit by fluorescent lights; another added a description of an immense maze of empty rooms that could be entered by noclipping out of reality.[8]

Interest increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, when photographs of unusually empty public spaces became widespread.[1][2] A spike in the popularity of liminal-space imagery was reported in March 2020 as lockdowns began.[9]

By November 2022, a subreddit called r/LiminalSpace had over 500,000 members, the liminal-space photo-posting account @SpaceLiminalBot on Twitter had accrued over 1.2 million followers, and the TikTok hashtag #liminalspaces had over two billion views.[2]

In media

Kane Parsons's found-footage Backrooms web series was adapted into an A24 feature film, released in 2026.[10] The 2025 film Exit 8, directed by Genki Kawamura and based on the 2023 video game The Exit 8, has been discussed as an example of liminal-space horror.[11]

Director Kyle Edward Ball said that, while developing his 2022 horror film Skinamarink, he looked at online communities including r/liminalspaces and r/weirdcore.[12] Severance creator Dan Erickson cited the Backrooms among the series' influences.[13]

See also

  • Dead mall
  • Non-place
  • Heterotopia (space)
  • Wiktionary logo The dictionary definition of kenopsia at Wiktionary

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Xiao, Madelyne (April 16, 2021). "The Pleasant Head Trip of Liminal Spaces". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on January 3, 2023. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pitre, Jake (November 1, 2022). "The Eerie Comfort of Liminal Spaces". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on December 12, 2022. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Wiggins, Bradley Earl (2025). "The backrooms and liminal spaces: Explorations of a digital urban legend". New Media & Society. 27 (8): 4729–4747. doi:10.1177/14614448241238395.
  4. 1 2 Diel, Alexander; Lewis, Michael (August 1, 2022). "Structural deviations drive an uncanny valley of physical places". Journal of Environmental Psychology. 82 101844. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101844. S2CID 250404379.
  5. ↑ Heft, Peter (2021). "Betwixt and Between: Zones as Liminal and Deterritorialized Spaces" (PDF). Pulse: The Journal of Science and Culture. 8. Budapest: Central European University: 1–20. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  6. 1 2 Neumann, Iver B. (2012). "Introduction to the Forum on Liminality". Review of International Studies. 38 (2): 473–479. doi:10.1017/S0260210511000817.
  7. ↑ Tzanelli, Rodanthi (2017). "Rite of Passage". In Ritzer, George (ed.). The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Wiley. doi:10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosr070.pub2.
  8. ↑ Sandal, Michael L. (April 30, 2020). "'The Backrooms Game' Brings a Modern Creepypasta to Life [What We Play in the Shadows]". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  9. ↑ Lazin-Ryder, Matthew (March 1, 2022). "'Liminal space' photography captures the eerieness and isolation of pandemic life". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  10. ↑ Rubin, Rebecca (June 9, 2026). "'Backrooms' Becomes A24's First Movie to Surpass $200 Million Globally, Overtaking 'Marty Supreme' as Studio's Highest-Grossing Release". Variety. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  11. ↑ Stuart, Keith (April 24, 2026). "'Opening the hidden door within us': how Exit 8 took a simple game to purgatory". The Guardian. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  12. ↑ Feldberg, Isaac (January 7, 2023). "The Internet Has Been My Co-Director: Kyle Edward Ball on Skinamarink". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved July 20, 2026.
  13. ↑ Francisco, Eric (February 24, 2022). "Severance Reveals the "Scary" and "Surreal" Underbelly of Office Work in 2022". Inverse. Retrieved July 20, 2026.

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Liminal_space&oldid=1366313957"