A Multidisciplinary Perspective on Art Education Practices as a Mediating Role Between Humans and Digital Technology

This qualitative study aims to secure a multidisciplinary perspective encompassing both theoretical research and field studies to develop a concrete educational model for ‘art education practices as a mediating role between humans and digital technology’. 

To provide practical validity to theoretical discussions on art education expanded as a mediator between humans and digital technology, this study selected five participants: an aesthetician, a digital artist, an educational philosopher, a curriculum scholar, an art education researcher, and an art education practitioner. Interview questionnaires were developed based on each participant's research field, and their responses were collected as research data. Data analysis derived and integrated insights from each field regarding how practices mediating humans and digital technology—the philosophical and theoretical foundation of this study—can be applied in actual educational settings, and perspectives on how AI and digital technology can be creatively and critically integrated into art education curricula.

The research findings reveal a growing consensus across diverse academic fields—aesthetics, philosophy, curriculum studies, and artistic practice—that art education now serves as a mediator between human intentionality and technological agency. However, differing approaches emerge regarding how this mediation should occur and what values should guide it. First, the aesthetic perspective emphasizes expanding aesthetic sensibility and ethical awareness beyond technology. Second, the philosophical perspective emphasizes relational ontology, moral reflection, and critical engagement with technology. Third, the curricular perspective highlights relational and sustainable learning structures, viewing digital integration as a core element. Fourth, artists are seen as needing to maintain human creativity and authenticity within a balance of tradition and innovation. Fifth, the art education perspective emphasizes preserving the discipline's identity and responsible technological integration. Integrating these five perspectives converges into an educational paradigm model called ‘Posthuman Aesthetic Pedagogy’ as a mediator between humans and digital technology.