LIMINAL SPACE IN ART: THE (IN)SECURITY OF OUR OWN VISION

Dramatic Architectures: places of drama, drama for places

Conference Proceedings. Porto, November 3-5, 2014

(Zeković, Miljana: 'Liminal Space in Art: the (In)security of our own Vision', in 'Dramatic Architectures: Places of Drama - Drama for Places' Conference proceedings. Eds. Jorge Palinhos and Maria-Helena Maia. Centro de Estudos Arnaldo Araújo CESAP/ESAP, Porto, 2014. 70-82.)

LIMINAL SPACE IN ART: THE (IN)SECURITY OF OUR OWN VISION

Miljana ZekovićFakultet tehničkih nauka, Univerzitet u Novom Sadu / Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia

Abstract

By introducing term 'Liminal Space' into theory and philosophy of architecture (referring to thespatial category necessary for the understanding and complete experience of the spectator facing thework of art or the artistic/performative event) we raise questions of needs, typologies and functions ofconcrete physical means used as a framework of its constitution. The idea of this research is also toemphasize the importance of a rather complex approach in presentation, perception and reception ofthe work of art or the artistic/performative event through a comprehensive way of merging of theseactivities, perceived mainly as separate components until now. Therefore the famous triad ofquestions from domain of architectural design: what (do we design?), with which means and in whichways?, and for whom?, applied onto understanding of the work of art or the artistic/performativeevent, offers a completely new answer – the artistic vision’s placement through an overall scenedesign, with the use of the ephemeral architecture means, represents a basis for the creation of thespectator’s own Liminal Space, through which he develops his own individual experience andinterpretation. This paper aims at defining a new terminology considering proposed claim, partlythrough the existing theoretical framework, but also through the analysis of the exemplary work ofÁrpád Schilling and Krétakör production for the Prague Quadrennial 2011 (which took place at theabandoned and devastated printing hall complex in Prague, once the central spot of the Communistregime). Highlighting the reuse of the forgotten industrial heritage, this research points at qualities ofthese places and their potentials to become the new homes for the art.

Keywords: Liminal Space; Thirdspace; In-between Space; Industrial Heritage

Reuse.

70

Miljana Zeković, Liminal Space in Art: the (In)security of our own Vision

Space at the Threshold of Expectations

Definition of the term Liminal Space, describing the phenomenon

emphasized in this research, came from the Arts - precisely from the

field of Performative Arts, and most accurately from theatre

theoreticians, who were also active directors craving constant

reexamination and analysis of their own practices. According to

Jelena Todorović1, who observed the phenomenon of the constitution

of Liminal Spaces in Baroque art and culture, it is clear that back

then existed 'the understanding of the space as an experiment and a liminal

phenomenon of human perception and reception, ..., evident in parallel spatial realities.'

(Todorović, 2012, p.4) That is to say that by dissolution of the

obstacles between a Baroque beholder and the virtual world of a

painting/sculpture/ complex total composition bel composto, the

experience of the beholder was changed through 'the idea of capturing the

moment as the only element of time which truly belongs to a human.' (Todorović, p.2)

In other words, through use of different illusionistic means and by

enabling the 'effect of a frozen frame', Baroque fine art managed to

mark the beholder of an art work as a subject who 'captured the

moment' and craved to belong to that precise static vision. Although

Todorović established the link between Baroque art and theatre, she

underlined that there were significant differences between the two.

Recognition of the liminal spatial phenomenon in both types of art1 Jelena Todorović, PhD, is Associate Professor of History of Art, conducting her research in domain of cultural history; including wider field of the culture of spectacle, art and propaganda, concepts of time and transiency, liminal spaces in visual arts, etc.

71



has many common characteristics - from dissolution of the factual

obstacles between illusion and reality, through establishment of

duality which completes this real-virtual relation (as in 'everyday

world - ideal world' (Todorović, p.9), to the idea of a dual existence of

the beholder, as it is stated further in this author's work: 'The

beholder existed in two spaces at the same time - the outer space in which he moved, and

the inner space created by that movement.' (Todorović, p.12) However, the

essential difference between use of the term Liminal Space in Baroque

fine art and theatre in general, lies in the fact that in the

theatre domain this 'captured moment' gains complexity until

completing the creation of category of abstract mental spaces that

enable continuous experience in time.

The perpetual processes of reexamination, revaluation, and constant

reassessment to her own work led Meta Hočevar2 to formulate her

thoughts on designing spaces for theatre plays into clearly defined

statements and questions on the role of space in theatre, through

sublimation of her own practical experiences. The idea of

existence/non-existence of the fourth wall - the portal - as 'the forth

wall of the play space and the fourth wall of the auditorium,' described as 'inexorable'

even when it is not there, due to the need of the spectator who

'invents it himself' (Hočevar, 2006, p.65), defined a series of terms

clearly leading towards constitution of a new spatial category. The

feeling of 'parallel tension', 'energy flow', 'energy blast generated at the place of the

portal', together with creation of 'the space of conflict' point directly to

the certainty of 'released fantasy' (Hočevar, p.19). Completion of this

fantasy, which brought the audience to theatre at the first place,

is a crucial issue in relation of the audience and the play itself.

2 Meta Hočevar, Slovenian architect by training, but active scenographer, costume designer and director who changed the idea of scene design in Yugoslav theatre practice.

72


Hočevar concludes: 'With the help of the story and the performance I need to let the

spectator himself discover his own pre-story,' (Hočevar, p.36) because it is only

that through his own imagination, by filling intentionally left gaps

in the play, the spectator becomes driven into his own experience of

the perceived. As stated by Hočevar, the placement of performance in

a Liminal Space is typical for the spaces of Ancient Greek drama

(Hočevar, p.56) and particularly this Liminal Space, as an 'in-between

space'; it is necessary for generating spectators’ individual

experiences. Liminal space in theatre is further elaborated, defined

by Hočevar as a 'threshold' or the 'in-between space':

In a way always full of tension, this space is the one that

provokes, the one that does not allow conciliation;

aggressive, full of energy, full of expectations and strength.

The one that is dangerous and indocile, always predicting

something. Events in this space are always dramatic in a

distinct way. This space functions as a drive unit of the

story... This space is always the space of conflict, of

dilemmas and doubts (Hočevar, p. 57)

The mere existence of the Liminal Space as described above becomes more

than apparent - it appears to be a fact which actually enables a

theatre experience, or perhaps more precisely - enables placement of

vision.

Finding the way to an all-around experience of participants in a

theatre event, constantly led Richard Schechner3, as his life

mission, to the same conclusion - that the only substantial thing in

the entire dramatic history of theatre was the necessity of 'mutual

3 Richard Schechner is one of founders of Performance Studies; used in this researchis a series of translated Schechner's texts, edited by Serbian theoreticians A. Jovićević and I. Vujić.

73



development of space and play' (Šekner, 1990, p.16) or even more precisely

'mutual development of the text, the play and the space' (Šekner, p.31).

Furthermore, he emphasizes that a spectator of a play needs to find

his own way through this happening, which he identifies with the

question of manipulation through an eternal dilemma: 'Could volunteer

participation and manipulation be equalized with coercion?' (Šekner, p.82) By

understanding the essence of the 'in-between' state as a threshold

which 'simultaneously divides and unites spaces' (Šekner, p.177) and actively

using it in his work, Schechner opens up to the acceptance of

liminality as the Liminal Space paradigm at all levels of existence of

a theatre event. As opposed to Hočevar, whose study is exclusively

focused on spatial categories, Schechner sees the necessity for the

liminal in all aspects of directing and performing a play, emphasizing

this by introducing a technique for stimulating the actor to 'act in the

in-between space - the Liminal Space between the actor's personality and the character he

plays - and not in a transformational jump from one character to the other.' (Šekner,

p.177) Only such a performance eludes the commonplace. This is the

only way to reach out to altering visions, in conflict accomplished

through transition and slight retention at the actor's mental

threshold. While the spectator awakes to the perceived in his mind,

he literally crosses the mental path of a different nature - from

neglecting of faded boundaries of real architectural space, to

reaching the state of consciousness of a personal Liminal Space in

which he experiences the play. Physical framework supporting the

creation of this type of Liminal Space is a form of ephemeral

architecture - scenography. In a way, crisis of the traditional

theatre finds its resolution in this engagement of a spectator's

potential in creating an ever new, authentic and individual

perception. This pioneer attempt is bravely anticipating the future

74


which, in Schechner's words, 'always emerges from a crisis in the most literal

sense - because crisis indicates either branching or disjunction: making a choice,'

concluding that 'the world is big enough for authentic pluralism.' (Šekner, p.141)

The Constitution of the Liminal

We may conclude from the aforementioned that the Liminal Space could be

any type of space occurring in the real space-time continuum that

provides a spectator with an illusion of the Great Idea, spanning

beyond its limits. The human need to believe in great ideas has its

foundation in everyday life challenges and uncertainty they bring in

regard to the future. The power of consequences of such a belief

abstracts ways and paths which led to it, transforming Liminal Spaces

into mechanisms of potential mental manipulation. In order to fully

comprehend the term Liminal Space, it is necessary to analyse the very

idea of its creation, ways of its representation and its indirect or

direct effects on an individual.

Liminal Space, as shown in the context of this research as the Liminal

Space in art, is an active, dynamic, uneven and unstable space

created in synergy of real architectural space, an actual

artistic/performative event that takes place in this space and the

ability of the spectator to feel, recognise and employ all relations

that occur in the given space-time framework, leading to full

experience of the artistic vision.

Since 'nothing can happen unless it happens somewhere' (Hočevar, p.10),

physical space is imperative for realisation of any

artistic/performative event. Spaces created in the minds of the

spectators during the artistic/performative event in real spatial

framework, transpose the entire event to a level of powerful,

75



dynamic, ephemeral and often spectacular spaces. Liminal Space should

not be understood as a fringe separating the event and the everyday

reality; it should rather be accepted as a cumulative and

overwhelming space that breaths (breathing space) and lives (alive space);

one that does not divide, but embraces and enables further

development of the event. Simply put, Liminal Space is a precondition

for development of an artistic/performative event, as is an

artistic/performative event a precondition for its constitution.

Liminal Space vs. Thirdspace: Further Development of Thought

Caught with an unstoppable explosive uprising of technology in the

second half of the 20th century, architectural theoreticians found

themselves in a rather uncomfortable but potentially fruitful

position of re-inventing possibilities for further development of

the spatial thought. The most interesting observations referred to

the necessity of reunion of space and time, fatally separated in the

Modern era4 (Till, 2009, p.117), and to redefinition of word space in

architecture5, which 'presumed production conflates two aspects of space: first,

space as a "physical property of dimension and extent", and second, space as a "mental

construct through which the mind knows the world".' (Till, p.118) These ideas

undoubtedly originated from phenomenology and sociology, urban

theory and human geography. By offering a new perspective on Henry

Lefebvre's theory of the social space production6 compared to Michel

Foucault's notion of Heterotopia, Edward Soja came out with a

construct of Thirdspace, arguing that 'there is another, different perspective that

sees space as fully lived, as things in and thoughts about space and more,' (Soja, 2002,

p.114) pointing out to the possible application of the 'Thirdspace

4 As stated by Anthony Giddens, according to Jeremy Till.5 As defined in etymological analysis by Adrian Forty, according to Jeremy Till.6 Referring to Henry Lefebver's famous theory of the production of space (i.e. perceived, conceived and lived space).

76


perspective' to the other fields and disciplines. Embracing both -

physical, material space and mental space (Firstspace and Secondspace) -

Thirdspace cumulates the lived life.

Everything comes together in Thirdspace: subjectivity and

objectivity, the abstract and the concrete, the real and the

imagined, the knowable and the unimaginable, the repetitive

and the differential, structure and agency, mind and body,

consciousness and the unconscious, the disciplined and the

transdisciplinary, everyday life and unending history. (Soja,

1996, p. 56-57)

Getting back to the construct of Liminal Space compared with the all-

embracing notion of Thirdspace, we may say that they share explicit

characteristics. Furthermore, taking into consideration specific

conditions in which Liminal Space is constituted (synergy creation of

real space/spatial framework, artistic/performative event and

spectator's own intellect and sensibility), we may conclude that

Liminal Space is a specific type of space in the Thirdspace spatial typology.

Transit through the In-between(s)

Much has already been written on the issue of intimate space - personal

space - social space - public space spatial distinction of human. Arguing the

difference between 'experienced space' and the very 'experience of

space' by giving priority to actually 'lived space', Otto Friedrich

Bollnow7 highlights the lacking of 'an approach to a coherent systematical

interpretation.' (Bollnow, 2011, p.17) We may, on the contrary, argue

that transdisciplinary nature of the problem of the definition of space

disables this systematical interpretation to a great extent. In

constant search for new answers, depending on the intentions of a7 O. F. Bollnow, philosopher and educator, elaborates thoroughly the notion of 'human space' in comparison to 'experienced space' and 'lived space'.

77



researcher who struggles with the existing terms, notions, concepts

and ideas, new paths occur where least expected.

In his writings on perception, Aldo van Eyck stated that mental

realities are formal realities, not polar but ambivalent realities,

introducing the notion of threshold 'to signify the relationship of different spatial

and psychological registers and scales in the city..., but in analogy to human mental

dispositions and psychic processes.'8 (Jaschke, 2009, p.176) Overcoming the

threshold in the mind of a human experiencing/living the space, brings

him to specific transitional area of the 'in-between'. Offered by

Buber and Winnicott in separate disciplines9 the notion of the In-

between Space greatly affected the formulation of the Liminal Space

construct, although stated that it has been rarely explored outside

the psychological realm (Praglin, 2006, p.2). Accepting the remark

suggested by Winnicott, and interpreted further by Laura Praglin,

that 'people live in three worlds: the inner, the outer, and the transitional - "the area of

cultural experience ",' (Praglin, p.6) we may formulate an understanding of

the In-between Space or Transitional Space precisely as the existing entity

between a human and an artistic/performative event:

Using Winnicott’s terms, we may say that the artist, for

example, expresses his/her being by constructing a framed,

transitional area in which creativity finds expression. The

artist creates and recreates unconscious processes, and

presents these in a manner which resonate with our shared

sense of symbols. By articulating these shared symbols, the

artist invites us into this intermediate area of experiencing.

(Praglin, p.5)

8 According to Jashcke's own translation of van Eyck's 'Over Binnen - En Buitenruimte'. 9 Martin Buber in existential philosophy and Donald Winnicott in childe psychoanalysis.

78


Although it may seem that the In-between Space and the Liminal Space share

too many characteristics between one another, the necessity of

distinguishing these terms lies in this: the in-between adjective

accurately determines space, definitely as four-dimensional, but

essentially transitional; while the liminal determinant refers to a

rather cumulative, though ephemeral, spatial state.

Architecture that yearns for Drama

'Whatever space and time mean, place and occasion mean more'. (van Eyck, 1959)

Previously introduced notion of the Liminal Space as a specific spatial

category emerging in the mind of the spectator facing the work of

art or an artistic/performative event, has its formal realisation in

any type of coexistence of an observer and an artistic creation. The

third essential factor necessary for this constellation,

theoretically formulated as a real/ephemeral spatial framework,

inevitably determines the quality of the whole experience. Coming to

terms with Christian Norberg Schulz on the idea that the human

'existential space' is a 'psychological concept having its real reflection in the architectural

space' (Šulc, 1999, p.68), thus understanding the existing

architectural structures as concretisations of specific existential

spaces under specific conditions, we have to ask the following: what

kind of existing built spaces have the best predisposition to

support an artistic action? Or, to be more accurate, to embrace the

additional story? Popularisation of the industrial heritage today,

aiming towards adaptation of ruined factories into homes for art, is

impossible to mark as a simple trend. Triumph of such attempts

indicates the existence of a phenomenon in architecture which,

devastated and left without purpose, becomes a rather poetic home

for the artistic events and artists themselves, in an act that even

79



upgrades the basic artistic idea. This never happens accidentally.

Lasting processes of dilapidation and decline reshape these

abandoned industrial buildings, rendering them receptive for other

purposes and creation of new contexts. Through the porous structure

of its damaged spaces, degraded and discarded architecture sends

impulses as hope for a new life.

For the purposes of the site-specific project 'jp.co.de.' designed

for the 2011 Prague Quadrennial10, as the first part of the 'Crisis'

trilogy11, Krétakör production singled out an exquisite spatial

framework. The abandoned complex of the once leading printing hall

of the Communist regime, named 'The Red Law' ('Rudé právo'), became

a home for twelve volunteers who agreed to inhabit it in during the

course of two weeks and play a controversial community game. During

their stay in the printing hall, the new tenants faced different

challenges, tasks, adventures and unexpected revelations, while

their thoughts, lives and encounters were documented in detail,

recorded and edited to be shown at some point, in a certain form, to

the PQ audience. The printing hall complex was an impressive

building form occupying the whole urban block in the wider centre of

Prague. It consisted of five inter-connected parts, some of them

already in the process of demolition at the moment of the artistic

experiment. After abandonment, followed by decades of neglect and

disregard, its physical state diminished the very idea of its

purpose - all utilitarian elements that actualised its function as a

printing hall were gone: lighting systems, machines, support

10 PQ is 'the largest scenography event in the world', http://www.pq.cz/en/about-us.html.11 The 'Crisis trilogy' is a type of a Gesammtkunstwerk, consisted of site-specific project combined with fiction, exhibition, performance and multi-media art, chamberopera and a theatre play which combined children's theatre education and standard performance.

80


constructions necessary for the machines' unobstructed work, as well

as all trace of any type of manufacture or production. Lacking any

remnants of its past left a certain gap in the space of the printing

hall, making it alert and receptive for new layers of meaning. After

it was detected and marked as a place of 'action', the producers

started to transform it into a home. The hall was cleared of debris,

all unsafe spaces were secured, fences repaired, and additional

rooms along the gallery were furnished as temporary bathrooms and

toilets, kitchen and bedrooms, working spaces and storages - all of

this through use of ephemeral architecture means and modules. The

transformation of converting an unused printing hall into a home of

twelve people went smoothly and unusually fast. Main contributors to

this process were indisputably the printing hall's spatial

configuration and a unique atmosphere - the breath of a

disintegrating building was in the air; a building which, in its

final attempt to survive, offered its spaces as scenes for the show

that was about to happen. The unbelievable typology of these real,

devastated spaces represents an almost indisputable evidence of the

role of space as a subject/a protagonist of the artistic event.

Perhaps even perceived as portals, these multiple framed spatial

segments, once used as common working places, transform into scenes

in the very moment they become occupied by people. These spaces meet

a protagonist's role through clarity of physical and quality

characteristics; always spontaneous, conversations, discussions or

acts of art happening in these spaces, stayed infallibly coloured by

these qualities. Space itself, designed and formed this way, had a

genuine influence on artistic action and events in the scenes. In

addition, the role of space as a subject of the artistic action was

emphasized by the need of volunteers to identify themselves with

81



specific spaces throughout the building complex, choosing exactly

those locations for shooting of their individual interviews.

Figure 1. Spatial frameworks of the abandoned printing hall -

portals/scenes expecting action.

The greatest transformation of spatial function lies in translation

of the printing hall's space - from the position of a simple

building where volunteers are brought to live - to the place where

they actually do live, spontaneously and without restrictions. This

process starts through common functions of everyday life, reaching

its peak at the point when volunteers become real tenants who

conquer space through fearless and unmistakable altering of its

purpose and function; living their lives to the best of their

abilities at that precise time.

This phenomenon of a huge architectural building complex's liminal

existence in the context of its inevitable destruction is a moving

fact. It is difficult to believe the claims of Árpád Schilling12 that the

choice of the 'Rudé právo' printing hall for the 'jp.co.de.' project

was purely accidental. Taking into consideration Krétakör's lengthy

practice in research of liminal ideas and methods in all aspects of

12 Árpád Schilling is the leader of Krétakör production, one of the most referent alternative multi-media production home, with roots in theatre production.

82


its work, we may argue that this is not the case here. Krétakör and

the volunteers were perhaps even unconsciously led by site-specific

methodology, relying on detection of the problem in a specific

environment followed by action considering that problem; they

discovered a whole new world inside this disappearing forgotten

structure, clearly marking a place where the printing hall existed.

Furthermore, if we accept the idea of spatial memory as a timeless

fact, we could argue that this urban location sedimented all

previous aspects of self-existence and that it could possibly

implicate them into all future forms that come to occupy it13.

Bringing such an intensive experience into a spatial framework of

highly compromised function, unavoidably lead towards generation of

multiple worlds, both real and imagined. The diagram below shows the

intersection, unions and mutually supported coexistence of these

worlds in the 'jp.co.de.' example. Differentiation of this

phenomenon shows Liminal Space of pure existence of the

volunteers/performers of this event, balancing between reality and

fiction throughout their stay in the printing hall. In addition,

there are Liminal Spaces constructed by the PQ audience once it was

allowed to enter this world. And as a distinct value we emphasize

the authenticity and significance of the Liminal Space of the printing

hall complex in particular, due to dissolution of its physical

determinants.

13 As defined by Jelena Mitrović in her MArch thesis, 2014 : Spatial Porosity is a super-quality of space enabling it to sediment memories and meanings in order to reflect them in future occasions.

83



Figure 2. Diagram showing coexistence of multiple real and imagined

worlds in the 'jp.co.de.' project in Prague, 2011.

Getting back to van Eyck's observation on place and occasion we agree

that concrete physical framework (rather than an empty space

existing in time) and an event happening inside, make an undividable

union of factors necessary for creation of the spectator's Liminal

Space. If we could measure the quality of the experience of a

spectator/participant experiencing an artistic/performative event,

we could say that it unmistakably relates to the existing spatial

framework. Hence the architecture that embodies spectators'

ambitions towards the achievement of the full experience of the work

of art, needs to be unpolished, incomplete, and receptive for new

layers of meaning. Only this kind of architecture can essentially

support imagination.

Acknowledgments

84


This research was realized with the support of: Provincial Secretariat forScience and Technological Development of the Autonomous Province ofVojvodina, Republic of Serbia; University of Novi Sad and Ministry ofEducation, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia(scientific project No.TR36051) in 2014.

Credits

Figure 1. is composed from three different photos, courtesy of SvetlanaKaradimova.

References

Bollnow, O. F. (2011). Human Space. London: Hypen Press.

Borch, C. (2002). Interview with Edward W. Soja: Thirdspace Postmetropolis,and Social Theory. In Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory, 3:1, pp. 113-120.

Hočevar, M. (2003). Prostori igre. Beograd: Jugoslovensko dramsko pozorište.

Jaschke, K. (2008). City is House and House is City: Aldo van Eyck, Piet Blom and Architecture of Homecoming. In Di Palma (Ed.) Intimate Metropolis: UrbanSubjects in the Modern City (pp.175-194). Routledge.

Praglin, L. (2006). The Nature of the 'In-Between' in D. W. Winnicott's Concept of Transitional Space and in Martin Buber's das Zwischenmenschliche. In The University of Northern Iowa Journal of Research, 2:2, pp. 1-9.

Soja, E. (1996). Thirdspace: Expanding the Geographical Imagination. Blackwell Publishers.

Šekner, R. (1990). Ka postmodernom pozorištu: između antropologije i pozorišta. Beograd: FDU - Institut za pozorište, film, radio i televiziju.

Šulz, K. N. (1999). Egzistencija, prostor i arhitektura. Beograd: Građevinska knjiga.

Till, J. (2009). Architecture depends. London: The MIT Press.

Todorović, J. (2012). Vatra i vazduh - barokni koncept vremena i prisutnosti, in Serbian. U Zbornik Narodnog Muzeja. Beograd: Narodni Muzej.

Van Eyck, A. (1959). The Story of Another Thought. In Forum 7. Amsterdam and Hilversum.

85

LIMINAL SPACE IN ART: THE (IN)SECURITY OF OUR OWN VISION

Documents

Transcript of LIMINAL SPACE IN ART: THE (IN)SECURITY OF OUR OWN VISION