Naess’s Empirical Semantics and Postdigital Design Agency in Contemporary Studio Arts Education

Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess’s research activities have been noted for their organic proliferation in a variety of domains of inquiry. However, elements of his research have yet to be considered for their affinity with arts-related inquiry. This article seeks to address this omission by examining Naess’s empirical semantics in relation to recent literature in postdigital theory and practice, focusing on its relevance to contemporary studio arts and its potential applications to arts education at the post-secondary level. I will outline Naess’s theory of precization, a context-specific, dialogically generated system of conceptual and practical clarification, and describe its unique relevance to contemporary arts practices. Due to postdigital literature’s indebtedness to the work of C. S. Peirce, a brief description of Peirce’s concept of semiosis will further clarify the overlap between Naess’s research and the semiotically informed invocation of the postdigital in contemporary arts theory and practice. By blending analytical and gestalt-informed praxis, Naess’s work suggests the value of developing self-defined, heterogenous research methodologies within communities of critical dialogue. I will outline correspondences between Naess’s detailed-oriented yet holistic approach to research and the ecological orientations of semiotically informed postdigital inquiry and pedagogy, proposing the more-than-digital approach to meaning-making as a pluralist methodology in which creative artifacts evolve through agency to interpret, reimagine, and redirect.