Petrol Stations as In-Between Spaces II: Transfiguration

This publication presents the results of a common interdisciplinary study carried out with Sonja Kmec, and continues her analysis of petrol stations as ‘in-between’ spaces. It analyses the representation of petrol stations in popular culture (films and TV shows, video-blogs, songs, internet memes), and examines how, in its oscillation between site and sign, the petrol station encodes meaning, emotions and emotional expectations in both popular and internet culture and in everyday life situations. It draws on and expands Danto’s concept of ‘transfiguration of life into art’ (1974) to reveal the constant transformative and participatory process of encoding and decoding that characterises the production of meaning. The publication’s interdisciplinary approach combines film and media analysis with empirical research in the form of qualitative interviews carried out in the interdisciplinary research project ‘IDENT2 - Strategies of Regionalisation: Constructing Identity Across Borders’, thus contributing to bridging the gap between the humanities and the social sciences. This publication should be read in combination with Sonja Kmec’s ‘Petrol Stations as In-Between Spaces I: Practices and Narratives’ (2016).