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- I'm looking out of 
the second floor window

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of the Minneapolis 
Institute of Art

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and I can see my childhood 
church across the park.

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Over the years,

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both of these buildings have 
been a place of salvation.

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When I was a kid, the 
church provided solace,

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a light to follow 
and other times

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by placing me 
within the mystery.

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And there are days now when 
work or life get to be too much

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and that's when I 
go to the museum

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and it gives me a 
new perspective.

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There always seems 
to be a piece of art

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waiting there to help.

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Today it starts with a 
white marble sculpture,

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Kiss of Victory by 
Sir Alfred Gilbert.

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It's a life-sized warrior 
caught in the heat of battle

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and behind him a winged 
angel at once pursuing

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and urging him onward, the 
ethereal wings of victory.

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So I take my first 
lap around the work.

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Now my college professor, 
Paul Grandlin told me,

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"A good sculpture is something 
you wanna walk around."

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Every perspective 
brings a new story,

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and it's remarkable

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how the marble seems to transfer 
the look and feel of skin

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but not real skin.

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It's beyond real, ideal real.

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And the angel is how 
victory is supposed to feel.

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Pure trajectory and momentum, 
no sense of loss yet.

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(calm music)

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The adjacent room features 
a Diane Arbus photograph

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of two nudists relaxing at home.

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The couple in the photograph 
stare directly at us

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and have very different bodies

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than the ones in Winged Victory.

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They aren't perfect, and oh 
and they're wearing shoes.

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Now, since this is a 
photograph and two-dimensional,

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Arbus has chosen our 
perspective for us.

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The starkness heightened by 
the black and white print.

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Her work will confront 
and challenge,

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but these folks in the 
photo, they're at home,

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they're in the world, they 
look content and unashamed.

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Their front door is 
open, like, come on in.

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With Arbus' work, if 
there is discomfort,

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it seems to come not 
from the subjects

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but from what we 
bring to the work.

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Now as I look at the photograph,

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somebody steps in front of me.

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This is my favorite part 
of being in a museum,

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other people.

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I mean, real flesh and blood.

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They unknowingly become exhibits

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The woman stands between 
me and the photograph,

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and although she's in more 
ways closer in appearance

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to the Arbus than 
the Winged Victory,

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I'm reminded of how beautiful 
humans actually are.

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There's something that 
we really can't capture.

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So behind me is the 
perfection of Winged Victory,

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before me stands the 
woman, and beyond her,

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the Arbus nudes stare out 
of their normal day at home.

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Oh, and through the 
window across the street,

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that's God's house.

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(calm music)

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- [Announcer] This program 
was produced in collaboration

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with the Center for 
the Art of Medicine

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at the University of 
Minnesota Medical School.

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And funded by the Minnesota 
Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund

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and the citizens of Minnesota.

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(calm music)