NEWLIGHTS GLOSSARY: STABLE SIGNIFICATION (STATE OF)

Stable Signification: the state in which an object achieves or is ascribed a single, set meaning, thus rendering it almost useless in a dynamic system. Usually stable signification is just an illusion and is easily dispelled with time and patience. Belief in an object’s state of being a stable signifier will often lead to the degradation of its form to a style, while simultaneously allowing its fixed meaning to be assigned a commodity value. Objects can only be bought and sold (intellectually, aesthetically, commercially) if quantified. Quantification and stabilization can be counteracted with the steady pressure of the precise science of softness, disruption, and imprecision.