WSC : The Lovely and the Liminal

Rain, Steam, and Speed (1844)

Has a train going west, passing by Maidenhead railway bridge with 60mph, it welcomes industrialization, using a hare to portray the powers of nature, and compared with the speed of horse and boat.

The Stanley Parable

It’s a game by Galactic cafe, where you have to follow orders of the narrator that says ur freedom might be controlled, saying that his freedom might be controlled too.

Picture of Railroad in Takanawa

It is a painting made by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi with woodblocks depicting Japan’s first railway that copied engravings of Western but misspelled. It shows modernization and traditional tension as the railway shows progress but replaces traditions of woodblocks.

It is a painting made by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi with woodblocks depicting Japan’s first railway that copied engravings of Western but misspelled. It shows modernization and traditional tension as the railway shows progress but replaces traditions of woodblocks.

Picture of Railroad in Takanawa

How is the painting made by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi liminal?

It is liminal as it shows Japan between 2 worlds

It is liminal as it shows Japan between 2 worlds

How is the painting made by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi liminal?

What psychological phenomenon occurs when someone forgets their purpose upon entering a new room?

The doorway effect.

According to scientists, why does the 'doorway effect' happen?

The brain may reset short-term memories when transitioning into a new setting or threshold.

Which 2013 video game by Galactic Cafe utilizes eerie, abandoned landscapes as a setting?

The Stanley Parable.

According to Immanuel Kant, how does beauty affect an observer?

It affects the observer as if it had a purpose even when it does not.

How does Kant's philosophy explain the attraction to liminal spaces?

Liminal spaces, like beauty, do not need to be 'going anywhere' to affect us.

List three real-world examples of shared liminal spaces mentioned in the text.

Train stations, airports, and elevators.

Rain, Steam, and Speed (1844)

J.M.W. Turner.

The Railway Station (1862)

William Powell Frith.

Picture of the Railroad at Takanawa (1871)

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi.

Gare Saint-Lazare (1877)

Claude Monet.

What is the title of the Yilan folk song from circa 1924 that depicts a liminal setting?

"Drip, Drip, Drip".

In which city did Steve McCurry photograph a train station in 1983?

Agra.

Six in Four (2015)

Richard Artschwager.

What term is used in the text to describe the study and design of waiting rooms?

The architecture of waiting.

In recent years, the meaning of 'liminal' has expanded to include things described as 'not-quite-right' and _____.

Not-quite-there.

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1897-98)

Paul Gauguin.

The Treachery of Images (1929)

Rene Magritte.

The Persistence of Memory (1931)

Salvador Dali.

Christina's World (1948)

Andrew Wyeth.

Ascending and Descending (1960)

M. C. Escher.

Beneath the Roses (2004)

Gregory Crewdson.

The Distant is Imminent (2020)

Camille Seamn.

Which three 'normal rules' are suspended when passing through an in-between space?

Movement, time, and social interaction.

Waiting for Godot, Scene 2 (1953)

Samuel Beckett.

"Keeping Still" (1958)

Pablo Neruda.

I'll Wait for the Next One… (2002)

Philippe Orreindy.

"The Man Who Could Walk through Walls" (1941)

Marcel Ayme.

A Gentleman in Moscow (2019)

Amor Towles.

What is the primary design purpose of ambient music?

To fill a room with background sound without requiring the listener to focus on it.

What was Brian Eno's specific goal for the album 'Ambient 1 Music for Airports'?

To make airports less stressful.

Music for Nine Postcards (1982)

Hiroshi Yoshimura.

Sleep (2015)

Max Richter.

How does the 'found footage' style in 'The Backrooms' affect the viewer's sense of place?

It loses the viewer in the 'in-between'.

According to the text, the 'doorway effect' is a form of temporary _____.

Amnesia.

What type of environments serve as the 'foggy nowheres' in games like The Stanley Parable?

Eerie landscapes and abandoned buildings.

In the context of 'The architecture of waiting,' how might a room affect a patient?

It can either decrease or amplify anxiety.

What is a modern, broader interpretation of the term 'liminal' beyond just physical thresholds?

Works or spaces that feel 'not-quite-right' or 'not-quite-there'.

What genre of music is described as 'music for airports'?

Ambient music.

Which work explores the idea of an individual being stuck in an 'in-between' social space indefinitely?

A Gentleman in Moscow.

Which surrealist painting from 1931 is cited as a potentially liminal work?

The Persistence of Memory.

The work 'Ascending and Descending' (1960) was created by which artist?

M. C. Escher.

What is the common setting for the works by Turner, Frith, and Monet mentioned in the text?

Railroads or train stations.

What specific human experience is linked to the 1924 Yilan Folk Song?

Passing through a shared liminal space (implied railroad/travel).

True or False-Ambient music is intended to be the primary focus of the listener.

False.

The 2004 photographic series 'Beneath the Roses' was created by _____.

Gregory Crewdson.

Which play involves characters literally waiting in a state of 'stuckness'?

Waiting for Godot.

Which piece by Rene Magritte challenges the 'rightness' of an image, fitting the expanded definition of liminality?

The Treachery of Images.

J.M.W Turner

J.M.W Turner Painted Rain, Steam, and Speed in the early 1800s, showing a train crossing the Maidenhead Railway in London. It shows how he welcomes industrialization, using a hare to represent speed, or the contrast of nature, emphasized by a boat and horse.

The Railway Station

It is a painting made by William Powell Firth in the mid-1800s. He painted himself and his family there, where his wife is kissing their son bcs he’s going to summer camp. There’s a bearded man who taught his daughters Italian, groom and brides, and there’s also ppl getting arrested.

Why is Firth’s painting liminal?

Because there’s a space of transition as the train station between departing and arriving. It also shows ppl being in different stages of life.

The Gare Saint-Lazare

Painting made by Claude Monet in the late 1800s, which is a series of 12, showing a train station where smoke is controlled, and modernization since trains r a symbol of progress. Less detailed ones from his series, and it is liminal due to choice of colors and transitions between destinations.

Train Station Arga

It is a photograph taken by Steve McCurry in Arga in 1983, during golden hour, showing that he prefers working in low light. It shows diversity and chaos in life, and it is traditional and modernization in the same time.

Six in Four

It is an art in the Whitney Museum, where four elevators are in the theme of table, window, basket, door, rug, and mirror, focusing on how the objects can still keep their identities while being in different forms. They’re liminal as the objects feel familiar but become confusing.

Andrew Wyeth

Made the painting "Christina's world" made in the mid 1900s, which was inspired by his neighbour who couldn't walk but refused a wheelchair and crawls around. It's liminal as she's between the house and the field, and her movement and stillness.

Gregory Crewdson

Photographed 21 photos with panoramic view named "Beneath the Roses." Each of the photos have desolate strrets. It merges theatre and daily life, that's why although everything seems normal, it feels like it's staged. Liminal bcs the photos are between events of nothing happening and smth happening, it also looks real but it's fake.

Who took the photo of an iceberg in collaboration with TED Countdown?

Camille Seamn took photographs of icebergs in 2020, which are meant to be placed on the walls of vulnerable cities such as NYC, Tokyo, etc. It makes ppl realize that even tho the iceberg is distant, it is also imminent.

Why is "The Distant is Imminent" liminal?

Because it shows how it's between distant and imminent, affecting us but not fully realizing it yet.

Gentleman in Moscow

Book by Amor Towles, where Count Alexander Rostov, an upper-class before the Belshovik revolutionary, who is spared bcs of his letter supporting the revolution, but not allowed to leave the Metropol Hotel, he's only allowed to keep his belongings that are related to his family. It's liminal bcs it shows how he's not jailed but doesn't rlly have freedom, his world is also the hotel, but things are happening outside that affect him.

Waiting for Godot

By Samuel Beckett in 1953, it’s a play where Estragon and Vladimir are looking for Godot. They are confused abt yesterday, today, and tomorrow, even tho they don’t know if they’re in the right place, but Godot never comes. Beckett wants to show the meaninglessness of life if you depend on smth external.

Keeping Still

It’s a poem by Pablo Neruda in 1958, telling everyone to stay silent and not do anything to reflect on their lives for 12 seconds to ignore desires.

Liminality of Keeping Still

It shows how humans feel like they’re never enough, while life is happening, but not ending at the same time.

Who and what is the short film “I’ll wait for the next one” about?

It is about a man named Antoine who got in a train, and saying that he’s looking for love after being single for 3.5 years. He tells ppl who r interested to get off at the next station, but when a blonde girl does it he tells her that it’s a sketch as he’s a beggar looking for donations.

Brian Eno

Made "Ambience 1, music for airports" by layering magnetic tape loops, which are looped. He made this when he got into an accident, and his friend was playing harp music while it was raining, and realized that it's ambience, it doesn't need to receive attention, it's just there. So it is used as an atmosphere for emotional transition and waiting.