Evaluation

From a conservative or even classical point of view and pragmatically spoken, evaluation always serves a distinct purpose.
Such can be:
- Validation of a certain strategy
- Verify/falsify a theory – or just support it
- Plain information about a status (social, economical, infrastructural, health-connected e.c.)
- A tool for management
- A tool for analysis and reflection

Methods to collect and display data are:
Surveys, questionnaires, interviews, comparisons, visualisation, charts and diagrams, organigrams and “psychograms”, …

Whatever evaluation, it derives from mere data collecting, numerical or alphanumerical, from questionnaires or more or less digitalized data pools (like measurement devices for environmental data, cameras, statistics agencies…

There are very few items in our lives that are impossible to evaluate. We are surveyed to a large degree. Even our deepest emotions are superficially dragged to light - if we think of all the psycho-surveys and tests from more or less glamorous magazines.

However once there is data, the actual process of evaluation begins, which is to organise and bundle and channel the results to finally bring them to a first interpretation - put them together in a report or display, using text, charts and numbers, and present them to a chosen public.

Taking a closer look, the whole process is influenced by personal perspectives and interpretation -even manipulation.
It starts with the definition/selection, which data is surveyed, what questions are asked, which computers are compiled to throw out numbers.
Then the person, organizing it – concluding and defining the results and findings and publishing them in any sort of report, influences it.
Consequently it is even influenced by the person reading/regarding it. Making own conclusions based on personal experiences, attitudes, challenges or targets.

Conclusion:
There is no guaranteed objectivity concerning data, analysis, evaluation and presentation of results.
- Just the awareness of oneself being included in the process – keeping personal concerns and longings as much as possible aside.

Within Reloading Images, defined as an artistic research project, in what ways will the common methods serve our purposes, what alternatives could be invented once we leave the classical terrain? How will we work on an artistic approach?
In this respect more questions and decisions arise about the subjects of reasonable, necessary examinations and enquiries.

It could be:
- Our collective, the circumstances under which we collaborate on one hand and our environment, the circumstances our environment is exposed to generally, how we are exposed to our environment, like weather, smog, traffic, scents, the emotions that arise in foreign places and in our homeland

- The consequentially caused shifts and tensions, points of transition, blind spots we dedicate ourselves, we dedicated the projects main topics to.

- Targeting a playful concept of evaluation as a collaborative means of analysis and reflection, an artistic approach supersedes convention.

- Transforming (data-) content to (artistic) form or/and form(s of data) to (art-concerning) content.

- Synchronicities lead us to more points of transition!!!

Finally and still for a start we could discuss the consideration of “why do we evaluate ourselves” anyways?

Looking forward to replies and reactions!