Yu Tsukada | Is it okay to dive deep? Is it okay to stay submerged? -- 'Liminal Space: A New Aesthetic of Fear' (Part 1)
This is the first part of a review of the translated book 'Liminal Space: A New Aesthetic of Fear,' which examines the aesthetic of fear associated with liminal spaces through art history and internet phenomena.Summary
This article reviews the first part of the Japanese translation of the book 'Liminal Space: A New Aesthetic of Fear' (published by Film Art, September 2025), written by Yu Tsukada. Liminal space refers to the strange feeling evoked when public areas like malls or hospitals are unusually silent, and the book outlines the "new aesthetic of fear" associated with this internet meme. This aesthetic is evident in contemporary content like the game 'Exit 8' and underlies the global horror boom. The author traces the theory of liminality back to the folklorist Arnold van Gennep's concept of "rites of passage," defining liminal space as an intermediate place, stemming from the Latin word for "threshold." The book explores this aesthetic across a wide range of subjects, including the architecture of Albert Speer, Brutalism, Surrealist paintings, video games like 'LSD: Dream Emulator,' the Windows XP default wallpaper, and internet phenomena such as "The Backrooms."
(Source：artscape)