К осмыслению традиции эксперимента в русской культуре. Испытание как прием. (Введение к выпуску)

The legacy of experiment in Russian cultural history can be analysed in a variety of ways. This introductory essay delineates some of the most significant milestones of this history stretching from the invention of the Slavic alphabet to the radical Modernism of the Avant-Garde. How does the "experimentality" of Russian radical aesthetics of the twentieth century correspond to the preceding cultural strata of the nation's history? Theoretical groundwork is outlined with respect to the possibility of conducting analytical research of various forms and guises of experiment. What makes the "Russian experiment" so unique? What endows Russian experimental culture with its unprecedented features? It is to these questions that the introductory essay rendered below is devoted