Conférence - Valentina Tanni

Liminal tourism: a journey in and out of reality

According to the definition provided by the website Aesthetics Wiki, “a Liminal Space is a location which is a transition between two other locations, or states of being. Typically these are abandoned, and oftentimes empty — a mall at 4am or a school hallway during summer, for example. This makes it feel frozen and slightly unsettling, but also familiar to our minds.”

Over time, many of the liminal space photographs circulating online have taken on a supernatural aura, becoming evocative settings for stories, memes, comics, and video games. Yet these imagined spaces often have roots in real environments, even if their origins can be difficult to pinpoint. This talk will explore the interplay between real and imagined spaces within internet aesthetics, tracing the history of some of the most recognizable liminal space images.

Valentina Tanni is an art historian, curator, and lecturer based in Rome, Italy. Her research investigates the intersections between art and technology, with a special focus on internet culture. She currently teaches Digital Media Culture and Meme Culture and Aesthetics at John Cabot University in Rome. She has published several books, including Memesthetics: The Eternal September of Art (Nero, 2020–24) and Exit Reality: Vaporwave, Backrooms, Weirdcore and Other Landscapes Beyond the Threshold (Nero/Aksioma, 2023–24), which was also published in France in 2025 by Audimat Éditions under the title Vibes, Lore, Core. Esthétique de l’évasion numérique.