Performing Presence: Cultural Capital and the Spatial Consumption Trajectory in Aesthetic Markets

Overview

An autoethnographic study of aesthetic markets — temporary, non-standardized consumption spaces in urban China — as sites where consumption desire is spatially produced rather than individually possessed.

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Abstract

Drawing on field reflections from 2024 to 2026, this paper analyzes how aesthetic markets transform from mere transaction venues into "consumer-social composite spaces" through four interlocking mechanisms:

1. Spatial atmosphere and temporary scarcity — repurposed factories, pop-up arrangements, and seasonal themes generate spatial urgency ("if not now, missed forever")
2. Passive sociability generated by mutual watching — shared gazes turn private decisions into publicly visible social events
3. Interaction rituals between creators and consumers — creation narratives embed purchases within social obligation, weakening economic rationality
4. Routinized spatial participation — repeated visits solidify consumption into lifestyle habit and identity performance

Key finding: aesthetic markets leverage spatial organization to convert private consumption decisions into publicly visible events, embedding purchase behavior within interaction rituals that weaken economic rationality. While these spaces promise authenticity and escape from industrial consumerism, they may simultaneously represent a deeper penetration of capitalist logic into the spatial-aesthetic realm.

Keywords: Aesthetic Markets; Cultural Capital; Spatial Consumption Trajectory; Autoethnography; Consumer-Social Composite Spaces