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From the moment you wake up, eat your breakfast, go through your day until you reach bedtime, you see millions of different images-different sizes, different colors. Why do we see what we do? And how sure are we that what we are seeing is actually true or is it affected by something else? You'll never know what is hiding behind or beneath the images that you see. It may be true that first impressions last, but remember, they aren't always right!
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As cuts in federal and state funding continue to erode support for public school fine arts programs and field trips, opportunities for children to experience the visual arts, music, dance, and theater are disappearing. In this documentary, Kerry Bennington, of the Krasl Art Center, and other concerned experts trace the evolution of the arts in America and enter into the debate over whether the fine arts are an educational asset or an elitist diversion...
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From the multiple perspectives in Jan van Eyck's The Arnolfini Marriage to the multiple soup cans of Andy Warhol, Western art abounds with examples of "double vision." This program looks first at duplication within works of art via mirrors, naturally reflective surfaces, and shadows and then at stylized repetition, whether it be through patterns integral to a work or through patterns that in themselves constitute the work. More esoteric aspects, such...
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What do Piero della Francesca's Dream of Constantine and Edward Hopper's Summer Evening have in common with the films The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and The Night of the Hunter? This program analyzes the lights that illuminate the night-from candles and street lights, to the moon, to Ingo Maurer's hologram of a neon-rendered light bulb-and the way artists make use of them to create revealing contrasts and to direct the viewer's gaze. Technical aspects...
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Not so long ago it was fashionable to think of the arts and sciences as opposites, but recent developments are casting doubt on this point of view. Today's artists utilize a multitude of sophisticated technologies based on scientific principles. Cameras, for example, are much-simplified replicas of the human eye. Other artists make use of everyday, but nevertheless captivating, technology. Examples include neon lighting and even copy-art, which uses...
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Thanks to the efforts of dedicated visionaries, there is an intergenerational learning experience spreading across the country. This fine arts forum invites the creators and supporters of outstanding school and community programs to take center stage. Together they share the positive impact the programs are having on students and the public at large, promoting art education and helping to ensure that the nation's artistic reservoir will grow in vitality...
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Expressing a dead body, wrote Leon Baptista Alberti, in 1435, "is one of the most difficult things in the world." This program examines the portrayal of death in art, from ancient times to the post-World War II era. Sarcophagi, paintings, sculptures, funerary statuary, news photos, cinema, mixed media, and a living pieta reveal the intricacies and nuances of rendering incidents of natural, accidental, and violent death, including Jesus' crucifixion....
8) Slumber
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What is it about slumber that has beguiled artists and viewers alike, down through the centuries? This program focuses mainly on depictions of sleeping women-clothed, partially bared, and totally nude-in paintings, sculptures, engravings, art photos, and film, from the medieval period to mid-20th century. Topics include the latent eroticism and voyeurism inherent in such subject matter, symbolism such as entanglement in bedding, the use of veils as...
9) Watch This
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Hack into the ultimate supercomputer - the human brain - as Hollywood filmmakers create mind-bending sensory illusions.
10) Perspective
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What do you see when you look at the world? Does reality really exist the way you experience it? Your brain is constantly taking in different bits of information all at once to make meaningful patterns that eventually form a complete picture of the world around you. Whether it's light, shadow, distance or sound, the way your brain perceives this information creates your unique perspective. But have you ever stopped to wonder if your brain is actually...
11) Altered Views
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You've probably played a game of hide and seek at least once in your lifetime. Somebody closes their eyes; counts to ten, while the rest of the players go out and hide. Usually, they stay in places where they can remain unseen; it would be quite difficult for them to hide while in plain view, right? It is fun to learn that there are various ways to manipulate our views, and at times we can hardly believe our eyes. Who knew, all it may take are a few...
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Unconscious inference, or unconscious conclusion, is part of a theory on visual perception that says that human vision is incomplete and details are inferred by the unconscious mind to create a complete picture. It's like our brains are adapting to the loss, and it is filling in the blanks, sort of like a 'connect the dots' game. The world has provided us with a lot of existing forms of magical illusions. Sometimes, we don't always notice them. Some...
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From the executive producers of Super Size Me and Director Sara Sackner, this program examines the deplorable atrophy of arts education in America's classrooms by contrasting the crisis with the story of one very dedicated, inspiring high school drama teacher: Jay W. Jensen, who over a 50-year career touched the lives of many with the transformational power of the arts. Renowned pupils-actor Andy Garcia, film director Brett Ratner, songwriter Desmond...
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Do you believe in ghosts, or do you think these supernatural beings are a figment of one's imagination? Psychologically speaking, are they just hallucinations? Whether or not these entities truly exist cannot exactly be proven. While most of these illusions are a result of how our brain and eyes respond to each other, we have also learned to create many tricks through science, technology, and art. It is fascinating to discover and relearn these old...
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How do photographic images evoke meaning and emotion? To understand that, viewers first need to understand how the eyes and brain process input from the visual world. After an overview of the biomechanics of vision, this program explains how proximity, similarity, and continuity affect perception; what light is and how lighting types and angles alter an image; and how color theory operates. Commentary is provided by photographers Dale Kistemaker,...
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Ten thousand years ago, Magdalenian artists carved expressive faces into slabs of limestone, creating a Paleolithic portrait gallery that required sophisticated drawing skills. This program shows how the art of portraiture has been refined and expanded through the ages. Examples of Egyptian sarcophagi portraits segue into discussions of paintings by Titian, Rafael, Durer, and other masters-including Rembrandt, who produced more self-portraits than...
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This program examines how photographers work with images to communicate stories and ideas and how viewers interpret those images. Message manipulation deriving from point of view, context, editing, superimposing, cropping, recoloring, and captioning are discussed. In addition, selective perception-seeing pictures through the filters of values and prejudices-is studied. Commentary is provided by Doug Nickel, curator of photography at the San Francisco...
18) Women bathing
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Beginning with the classical and biblical subjects of Diana, Susannah, and Bathsheba, this program discusses female nudity as it relates to the act of bathing. Depicted as a chaste ritual, a sensual invitation, and a terrifying opportunity for violence, the act of bathing is deconstructed and scrutinized from an artistic point of view. Topics include the inherent dramatic tension of nudity; the thematic provocation of the gaze, as when a character...
19) The Window
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If, since the beginning of the Renaissance, art has never stopped inventing new figurative scenarios based on the window, it is because the window is so closely associated with two fundamental elements of painting itself: light and the frame. This program contemplates the use of the window as a passage between the indoor and outdoor worlds. Topics include landscape, in the form of a veduta, or view; light, as illumination or metaphor; glass, transparent...
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Throughout the history of painting and sculpture no muse has exerted more influence than the artist's model. This program studies the role of the human form in art, focusing on complex relationships between famous male artists and their female subjects. Works featuring the male figure are also examined. Discussing numerous artistic milestones-including classical Greek statuary, Masaccio's revival of human-centered themes, Botticelli's ethereal Primavera...