The phenomenon of liminality in contemporary aesthetic experience

Abstract

This paper explores the phenomenon of liminality within the aesthetic experience of contemporary culture. Liminality is conceptualised as a specific condition of transition and indeterminacy that has the capacity to transform both individual and collective modes of perception, while simultaneously encouraging free creative expression. In the aesthetic domain, liminality is manifested through artistic practices in which the spectator becomes an active «co-creator» of the work; thereby erasing the boundary between artwork and audience. Liminal art generates a polyphonic spectrum of emotional responses ranging (from anxiety and melancholy to tranquility), thus transcending the binary opposition «beautiful – ugly». Particular attention is given to virtual environment, where the boundaries between the real and the imagined, the corporeal and the digital, are continuously blurred. Liminality is is defined as a key to understanding new forms of sensibility and representation in the culture of the 21^st century.