The Growing Fear of an Aesthetic Evaluation

This paper examines the evolution of practice-led image research within Swiss visual communication design departments, observing a shift from basic research inquiries to concrete applications. Recent projects align with the prevailing notion that research is considered scientific if its results are quantifiable, reproducible, delegated to technical apparatus, and seemingly independent of individual aesthetic judgment. By providing an overview of the aesthetic discourse in Western philosophy relevant to practice-led image research, this paper establishes a foundation for understanding the potential and pit falls of aesthetic judgment as a methodological approach to exploring how images generate meaning. The value of aesthetic evaluation in practice-led image research is discussed and contrasted with the critical perspective of aesthetic theory, which highlights the situated nature of aesthetic evaluation.