Every dead mall video calls it 'liminal space' and I'm tired of it

I mean, not every abandoned corridor or empty food court is some deep aesthetic thing. I walked through the old Westgate Mall in Cleveland last month and it was just sad, not artsy. Can we maybe call it what it is instead of pretending every broken escalator is a vibe?

2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

2 Comments

valgibson4mo ago

Get past the whole "vibe" thing and think about what these places actually cost to build. That Westgate Mall you mentioned? That was someone's retirement fund, a local contractor's giant paycheck, a hundred teenage dreams about working at the arcade. Now it's just a tax write-off and a YouTube thumbnail. Calling it "liminal" feels like we're skipping the part where a bunch of real people lost real money and real jobs. It's not spooky, it's just the final chapter of a bad business plan.

8

morgan.joseph4mo ago

Westgate was rough last time I went through. People just want to milk that aesthetic clout from dead retail spots. It's a rotting mall, not a moody art installation.

6