Online culture flattened the creative class’s once-distinct local aesthetics into uniform global kitsch

Evidence

Mainstream culture may never have been a reliable place to seek out innovation, but in the 2020s, even the culture of the creative class felt stagnant. Artists once energized cities with edgy bars, experimental storefronts, and offbeat gathering places. Now online culture flattened these aesthetics into what critic Kyle Chayka dubbed “AirSpace”: identical, polished interiors offering the same cortados, craft beer, and avocado toast served on raw wood tables, surrounded by exposed brick and Edison bulbs. AirSpace catered to digital nomads who flitted between low-cost creative hubs like Tbilisi and Tallinn without ever having to compromise on their faux-artisanal tastes. The accessibility of AirSpace’s aesthetics owed much to Chinese-made dupes—convincing knockoffs of high-end furniture and fixtures that allowed proprietors to re-create the look for a fraction of the price. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 649

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘AirSpace’ as the homogenized coffee-shop aesthetic of the 2020s creative class.
• XREF: Connects to my omnivore-monoculture throughline in this book — AirSpace is the physical/spatial instance of the collapsing-subcultural-difference thesis.