Introduction

The Monte Clark Gallery describes liminal spaces as "the transitional, in-between places that exist on the thresholds of our consciousness and reality" (Booth, 2023). This aesthetic has boomed in popularity since the COVID pandemic, with social media sites filling with eerily empty physical spaces, such as malls or fields (Booth, 2023). Our gallery however, explores liminality in digital artwork through metaphysical methods such as 3D simulations and AI. Our selected works span a multitude of themes and decades, highlighting the variety of ways digital artists explore liminality. Bruce Nauman's Live-Taped Video Corridor forces the viewer into being both the surveillance and surveilled, using real-time technology and viewer interaction. Refik Anadol's Machine Hallucinations — Nature Dreams explores the capacity for machines to dream by blending human perceptions of the natural worlds with AI datasets and algorithms. Jared Pike’s Dream Pools series invites viewers into immersive virtual spaces imbued with eeriness and childhood nostalgia. Gabrielle Salonga’s Enter the Dream uses 3D rendering to bring a surreal, dream-like landscape to life. Snow Yunxue Fu’s Daughter Ice City presents a virtually rendered world which allows the viewer to see their own emotional reaction to being in a space of transition. Each of these artists exemplifies Christiane Paul's definition of digital art, as they create art not only through digital tools, but also art which comments on our society, culture, and technology.