Experimental

Experimental is the term often applied to certain works in art, music, dance, film, and theater, when they are considered to be novel, unconventional, or tentative, but more often in those instances when the artist is uncertain or wavering, or simply lacks a clear idea of what she or he is doing. The term bothers me interminably.

Experiment is a scientific term, and it concerns the procedure of testing a hypothesis. What the experiment is designed to achieve is a well-defined goal; the testing is tentative. It is not open-ended. In French, the word for experiment is l'expérience, and we learn that the two words are cognates, deriving from experiri (Lat. try). Experiment is a clinically controlled experience. Rehearsals consitute a series of experiments, testing by trial and error, to reach the final product satisfactory to the director and the production crew. If a theater company decides to put on a play that is blindingly novel "just to see how it goes," the audience should protest being treated like guinea pigs and refuse to pay to see it. If its goal is clearly defined, the play's staggering novelty may shock the audience but with the hypothesis exposed articulately it can impress and persuade.

An accomplished work, I contend, should be called innovative, not experimental; a haphazard effort, if truly experimental, should be described as a test piece and withheld from the paying audience.