[mistersquid]

> But linimal aesthetic is different, especially as has recently become popular.

Your articulation of a liminal aesthetic hits upon the tension inherit in the word “liminal”.

By definition “liminal” signals “in between” which connotes an unsettledness or indeterminacy, or what in other realms is called the uncanny. This liminal aesthetic, at its core, is shot through with a sense of the uncanny, and empty devoid spaces where normally there is a lot of traffic convey this aesthetic clearly and succinctly.

Thank you for drawing this distinction.

My intent when referring to the denotation of “liminal” was to remind that even familiar places, such as bustling train stations and busy airport terminals, are also liminal spaces even if they don’t conform to current representations of the liminal _aesthetic_. By preserving the denotation of the word “liminal”, we can defamiliarize such spaces and recover (or emphasize) their liminality.

All of which is the message of art like Brian Eno’s “Music for Airports”. Who doesn’t appreciate the defamiliarization of our “mundane” traversals of the realms we inhabit?

[zem]

I think even the busiest airport terminal does retain a liminal feel, because the entire time you spend in it you are being palpably funneled along, with enough attendant unpleasantness to keep you in a state of constantly waiting to get a move on. in train terminals you are a lot more self motivated.

[idiotsecant]

Good luck preserving the meaning of words. Words have no meaning outside how people use them to express ideas. Words can and do change to mean different things, or even 'literally' the opposite of themselves.