David J. Atkinson

On #liminal spaces: These are places where the emptiness is more than the absence of people. They are places not meant to be, or not meant to be seen. They are not necessarily abandoned, they are just empty. They are truly otherworldly.

For example, maybe 30 years ago my friends and I were partying late in #Frankfurt after a full day of business. Our hotel was at the airport. When the taxi dropped us off in those wee hours that don’t exist on the clock, we wandered into the airport, not our rooms. The place was EMPTY. I know you can’t imagine it today, but this is true. No security, no people anywhere. We ran and sang and wandered, and eventually stumbled upon a lone man driving an enormous floor polisher and persuaded him to let us drive it; and so we did. That was a peak experience. We wandered down descending hallways to see where they might lead only to discover a small bar full of neo-N*zis who wanted to fight. We ran away.

This was all behind that curtain we are not meant to see. I think I lived in a Neil Gaiman story for a few hours. It was #kenopsia, from the Greek “kenosis”=emptiness + “opsia”=seeing.

Follow this guy if you want to see some similar places. He makes me think @AbandonedAmerica
#eerie #truth #portal #story

Nov 20, 2022 at 6:57amWeb
Show threadClaire4TakeoffNov 21, 2022

@meltedcheese @AbandonedAmerica So, so exquisitely put. There are still accessible worlds and lives in all of those places.

Thanks to both of you for keeping them alive (with a shout out to the painter Tom Birkner, who did the same on canvas for decades, and to whom I owe my earlier times crawling through and around a lot of them.)

Show threadFardels BearNov 21, 2022
@meltedcheese @AbandonedAmerica I'm reminded of the Stephen King miniseries, The Langoliers. Mind-numbingly bad television, but with that feel.
Show threadDavid J. AtkinsonNov 22, 2022
@riggbeck I’ll never forget that show. To this day, I look back at the airport after takeoff. That is wrong thinking of course. You can only see “now” but sometimes there is a smudge and that is the eerie feeling
Show threadmyownpetard blue checkmarkNov 23, 2022
@riggbeck @meltedcheese @AbandonedAmerica definitely read (or listen to) langoliers. it was definitely better than the movie. shocking, i know.
Show threadJan McCartneyNov 21, 2022

One blizzardy Xmas Eve, I rushed my cat, Molly, to the emergency vet clinic. The fastest way was by subway, then a walk through an underground mall.

It's a sad little mall when the business people and shoppers have left for the day. The fluoresent lighting was ultrabright and tinny Xmas music was still playing. My footsteps echoed as I hurried to the clinic.

I can still replay the trip in all of its sad detail, especially the music. Molly was OK.
#liminal #cat #CatsofMastodon

Show threadDavid J. AtkinsonNov 22, 2022
@macca_jan Thanks for sharing. When you come upon these spaces it feels different. I have spent my life learning to pay attention to those very subtle feelings. Ordinary life blocks them out sometimes. So happy Molly was ok
Show threadJan McCartneyNov 22, 2022
@meltedcheese Yes, there is definitely a heightened feeling as in a dream. Heightened also by it being night time. Things look so different in the daylght.
Show threadMark BrittenNov 22, 2022
@macca_jan the most dreamlike period for me seems to be just after sunset in the summer, when it takes a while to get dark. For some reason most of my dreams are lit like that.
Show threadJan McCartneyNov 22, 2022

@lemonflavoured That twilight period is a haunting time to go for a walk.

You reminded me of René Magritte’s “Empire des Lumières”.

https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/in-rene-magrittes-night-the-sky-floats-over-us-all

#art #painting #surrealism

Show threadJan McCartneyNov 22, 2022

@lemonflavoured This too.

Kawase Hasui (Japanese, 1883-1957)
#art

Show threadOf Bookish ThingsMar 14, 2023

@meltedcheese @AbandonedAmerica
#RobertFrost - acquainted with the night

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.

#LiminalSpace #Poetry #Photography #Emptiness