the experiment

the experiment has no definition, no final 'end product' we are working towards. The experiment is open to interpretation, and there are many, many ways we can approach it. The experiment means we can fail which is actually a good thing, because 'failure' (our individual definition of failure not anyone else's) gives us permission to try again (not give up). We can throw different ingredients in to the experiment - we can see what works and what doesn't (depending on where it is we are choosing to head) and once we know, we can change course, utilise those ingredients to maximum effect, and/or add more and keep trying. 

The experiment means we are free to try, we do not have to wait for instruction, we are not bound by perfection and 'getting it right' (this is an experiment after all), it means that we have permission to try, and there is no judgement (only the ones we impose on ourselves). The experiment means we can rip it up and start again. We can continue to research. The experiment is often about process and enjoying that process is key. We don't live in a world where when we get it 'right' everything stops and becomes good, static and forever fixed. We change, life changes, needs and wants change and what once worked doesn't work. That's good, it means we can conduct a new experiment, we don't stand still and life doesn't stand still. We can set our own parameters, our own stipulations, we can carve out our own lab for experiments and we can see what happens. We might have a vague idea of what we want to achieve with 'the experiment' but we are also fully open to seeing what emerges from the 'mistakes' the fortuitous and happy 'accident's and we are open to having things we couldn't even perceive, being revealed to us.

Where is a good place to start with the experiment? A good place to start is doing what we want to do. What we feel an urge and calling to do. The thing we would do even if we weren't paid for it we'd do it. An inner compulsion, a whispering in the heart, a yearning and burning desire. An experiment can be both tangible and intangible.

IT IS TIME TO EXPERIMENT. OUR LIVES ARE SO PRECIOUS AND SHORT! What do you want to discover if you can do? Oh, whoops, I mean you can do it, but what is the best way to do it - that is the experiment and continual experimenting!

Happy 2013 - what experiments will you fill it with?

Amelia.x

If you want to experiment with art/your art, join our group that starts January 14th 2013 here - I guarantee it will be one of the best experiments ;)