Charter of the VALUATION Chamber at M8

Figures:

The Arts Assembly (AA): All present, including all the members of the audience.

The Artist: The artist can be replaced by any "author" (singular or plural, etc) of any project or conception.

The Work: Although this was developed to valuate art-works, this may be any sort of work, writing, act, conception or proposal.

The Jury: A selection of 3-4 (sometimes senior) figures that help moderate and guide the process.

I. THE AA IS CONVENED AND CONSTITUTED

The AA Valuation Chamber is officially opened.

The structure of the Chamber (see below) is briefly outlined.

Approx. 10 minutes

II. THE ARTIST PRESENTS THEIR WORK

Approx. 15 minutes.

III.   CRITERIA ARE 'EXTRACTED' FROM THE ARTIST, CONCERNING THE WORK PRESENTED

First, the notion of CRITERIA of judgement of a work is introduced. These are criteria or values according to which a given person chooses to Valuate the work. In this first phase, it is the work as conceived by its author (in person, or delegated) whose criteria are sought.

Once the notion of criteria has been explained, the Jury assists the artist in defining them for the work presented. That is, the artist is helped/moved/questioned with an aim to choosing principles/criteria according to which he or she wishes his or her own work to be Valuated.

The Jury assists the artist in 'extracting' these criteria. Criteria are NOT set by the Jury.  Any member of the AA can help in this process.

All Criteria are written down - usually on well-visible white-boards/flip charts/paper - in the course of the proceedings.

Three sets of criteria are sought:

a) positive criteria (that is, if they apply, the work is considered successful in that particular respect)

b) negative criteria (that is, if they apply, the work is considered to fail in that particular respect)

c) universal criteria (that is, criteria which apply not only to the work in question, but any work of the same kind/genre/context, etc.

N.B. Meta debates: There may be disputes about the legitimacy of the current Charter (procedure) of the Valuation Chamber itself. For example, there are often objections to the very notion of 'universal criteria'. This type of discussion is allocated to a separate debate, which may interrupt the course of the procedures outlined here, or be delegated to a later discussion. These discussions are designated 'Meta'.

Once at least 3-5 of each type of criteria have been 'extracted' from the presentation and discussion with the artist, the artist is thanked and asked to leave the Chamber and is offered a place to relax (also known as the Horizontal Chamber).

Approx. 35 minutes.

IV. THE AA GENERATES IT OWN CRITERIA TO VALUATE THE WORK

              The AA (the entire audience) is divided into groups of max. 5-10 people, each with a Chair and also a delegate to later present its findings to the whole AA.

              Each Group is asked to generate 3 sets of criteria in the same manner as described above. The Group Chair encourages the accurate and speedy discussion, and a Group Delegate is nominated by the Group to present the results back to the Chamber as a whole in  part IV.

Approx. 30 mins

V. THE AA PRESENTS CRITERIA TO VALUATE THE WORK

              The artist is welcomed back into the chamber (initially as an observer)

              Representatives of each group present their sets of criteria, as generated by their groups.

              During this process, the Jury clarifies criteria presented, finding commonalities, encouraging and clarifying the arguments for each criteria presented by the Group Delegates, which write them on the boards/paper. 

                This process generates plenty of discussion and disagreements. The entire AA is encouraged to join the debate. However, the artist must, at this point, still refrain from responding.

Approx. 25 minutes

VI. THE ARTIST IS GIVEN THE 'FINAL WORK' IN RESPONSE TO THE PRESENTATIONS.

Approx. 5 minutes

THE AA VALUATION  CHAMBER IS CLOSED.