Cinemagoing as spatially contextualised cultural and social practice

Cinemagoing as a sociocultural experience and the cinema theatre as a setting where that experience takes place are naturally linked to a certain notion of space. In fact, cinemagoing is a practice in which space is not only conceived and perceived but is also constructed; space and place are social constructs, always mediated by people’s experience and sociocultural processes. Likewise, the space of the cinema theatre is not a given but is continuously produced, reconstructed and reconfigured by audiences. This article analyses the dialectic relations between the notions of space and place and the experience of cinemagoing as a spatialised social practice and a cultural experience; it also investigates the cinema theatre as a physical, symbolic and mental setting. Overall, the article offers a theoretical reflection on the multiple notions of space in relation to cinemagoing