ABSTRACT
There is an interesting duo of words in the Russian language: ‘материя (‘matieria’, matter) and ‘материал’ (‘material’, material). Matter is a form of substance, ‘the fabric of the universe’ (P.T. de Chardin); an infinitely small amount of it is our planet, with all its diversity of substances and creatures. Some autonomous, autogenic processes are happening on it, to it and inside it: mountains slowly deteriorate; deserts appear; glaciers melt; forests grow; lakes dry out; chemical elements decay; organic life emerges with its lush flora and fauna; billions of creatures are born and die … But matter does not disappear; it only changes its endless forms, driven by an unknown force, maybe God, maybe matter itself …
But then man comes into the world. He is different from all other living creatures by a specific form of behaviour: creative activity. From the boundless richness of the world he singles out separate parts, pieces, elements of matter and transforms them. They are being turned into something that man imagined, planned and invented: a tree trunk into a boat; a section of a tree trunk into a wheel; many tree trunks into a shelter.
