Art: a new perception | Lyubov Popova | TEDxSadovoeRingWomen
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0:09 - 0:13Is art, given its indisputable value,
accessible to us? -
0:15 - 0:17How can we learn to perceive art?
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0:19 - 0:21This is what I want to talk about.
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0:22 - 0:28In the 1890s, Leo Tolstoy
wrote "What is Art?" -
0:29 - 0:33where he came to conclusion
that it is extremely important -
0:33 - 0:37to make art accessible
to the broad masses. -
0:39 - 0:41He exchanged letters with Stasov,
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0:41 - 0:44his friend and an art critic.
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0:46 - 0:48Stasov wrote:
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0:49 - 0:54“So many people say great
and clever things about art. -
0:56 - 1:02But put them before a painting and they
won't be able to articulate two words." -
1:04 - 1:09He was referring to an inability
to grasp a particular work of art. -
1:12 - 1:17There is no doubt that knowledge
of history and culture -
1:17 - 1:19is important for understanding art.
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1:20 - 1:21But that isn’t everything.
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1:23 - 1:26You might know the history
of Florence in depth, -
1:27 - 1:31the life of Cosimo de’ Medici,
read Machiavelli, -
1:32 - 1:35you might know by heart
whole passages from Vasari, -
1:36 - 1:39about the Italian painters.
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1:40 - 1:42But that’s not enough.
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1:44 - 1:46Artistic image is something concrete,
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1:47 - 1:49expressed in a specific work.
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1:49 - 1:50This is the meaning of art.
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1:52 - 1:58When you stand before the Florentine
church of Santa Maria Novella, -
1:59 - 2:01here and now,
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2:02 - 2:09something should touch your heart
and turn your soul over. -
2:11 - 2:13The skill of perception
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2:15 - 2:17augments our consciousness,
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2:18 - 2:20the feelings we experience.
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2:21 - 2:24It changes personality.
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2:25 - 2:27A person becomes multidimensional
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2:28 - 2:31and develops empathy:
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2:33 - 2:37sensing and understanding another person,
connecting to another person's feelings. -
2:38 - 2:42Every time a person stands
before a new work of art, -
2:42 - 2:47it seems different,
unique, not seen before. -
2:48 - 2:52A person hones this sense of empathy.
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2:53 - 2:57Perceiving a work of art develops
one’s creative abilities. -
2:59 - 3:01Our world faces many problems
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3:03 - 3:05that require unusual approaches,
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3:06 - 3:08require creativity.
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3:09 - 3:13Our world needs creative individuals.
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3:14 - 3:17Art is something important
for every person. -
3:19 - 3:22Society today is convinced
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3:22 - 3:26that art is secluded,
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3:27 - 3:29that it's elitist.
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3:30 - 3:33But art is a product of all humanity.
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3:34 - 3:38It is fundamentally open to anyone.
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3:39 - 3:41You just need to learn
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3:42 - 3:44how to perceive art.
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3:45 - 3:48Learn it just like we learn to write.
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3:51 - 3:54How can we teach ourselves and others
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3:55 - 3:57to perceive art?
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3:58 - 4:02I had to answer this question
after graduating from university, -
4:02 - 4:05when I started to teach.
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4:07 - 4:12My students would readily learn facts
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4:13 - 4:15about history and culture.
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4:16 - 4:20They could name every element
in the classical order: -
4:20 - 4:24architrave, frieze, cornice, entablement.
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4:25 - 4:27But they were lost
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4:28 - 4:30when confronted with a specific work.
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4:32 - 4:36Its meaning eluded them.
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4:37 - 4:40An image in art always arises
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4:41 - 4:43from an emotional jolt.
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4:45 - 4:47An artist experiences a vivid feeling.
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4:48 - 4:51This feeling won’t release him
for a long time. -
4:52 - 4:56He wants to share it with other people.
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4:57 - 5:01That's when he looks
for a means to express it. -
5:01 - 5:04Each form of art has its particular means.
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5:04 - 5:07For music, it’s sound and rhythm.
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5:07 - 5:10In dance, it's flexibility of the body.
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5:11 - 5:20In visual arts, it is lines, color spots,
texture, proportions. -
5:22 - 5:25Feelings can really be expressed.
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5:26 - 5:28Take, for example,
the feeling of tenderness -
5:28 - 5:30and the feeling of passion.
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5:31 - 5:32The feeling of tenderness
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5:35 - 5:38is expressed in bright, light tones -
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5:40 - 5:45pink-salmon, light blue, grass green.
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5:47 - 5:50Those tones convey
a sense of understatement, -
5:51 - 5:56because tenderness contains
as an understatement, -
5:56 - 5:58even timidness.
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6:00 - 6:02Passion, though,
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6:02 - 6:04is something different:
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6:05 - 6:07contrasts,
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6:08 - 6:11both hot and cold tones.
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6:12 - 6:14A dark space
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6:14 - 6:18is broken by bright flashes of lightning.
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6:20 - 6:21One’s blood boils.
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6:22 - 6:24Feelings can be expressed.
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6:25 - 6:29In art, feelings aren’t expressed
in just one way, -
6:29 - 6:32but in a number of expressive mediums.
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6:32 - 6:34It’s a structure
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6:34 - 6:39where all means of expression
are bound in a single knot. -
6:41 - 6:46I knew well that I had to teach
how to see features, -
6:46 - 6:52the differences between various means
of expressions and structures. -
6:55 - 6:57I knew how to teach that.
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6:57 - 7:01One had to develop a keen sense of sight
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7:03 - 7:05and the eye of an artist.
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7:06 - 7:08I had to teach people to see,
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7:09 - 7:13to grasp the difference
between five shades of blue. -
7:15 - 7:18To see the difference
between different structures. -
7:19 - 7:21Making comparisons, that's the solution.
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7:23 - 7:28But to grasp art, it is essential
for a person to feel. -
7:29 - 7:31And how do you teach people to feel?
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7:31 - 7:34That a line is not simply broken,
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7:34 - 7:35it is nervous.
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7:37 - 7:39That a line is not only solid,
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7:40 - 7:44but also peaceful and calm.
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7:45 - 7:47How do you teach people to feel?
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7:48 - 7:49I didn’t know.
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7:49 - 7:52I didn’t know how to teach people to feel.
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7:53 - 7:57Then I asked myself,
how did it happen for you? -
7:58 - 8:00That was my breakthrough!
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8:00 - 8:03I realized that for me,
it happens through the body. -
8:04 - 8:07When I stand before a Rublev icon,
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8:08 - 8:10the golden tones ...
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8:12 - 8:14immediately ...
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8:14 - 8:17release all tension in my body.
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8:17 - 8:19I breathe more easily.
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8:22 - 8:26A sense of peace, even safety,
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8:27 - 8:29fills my soul.
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8:30 - 8:34But if recall Picasso’s Guernica,
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8:35 - 8:37my whole being seizes up.
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8:37 - 8:41My muscles are strained,
I can hardly breathe, -
8:42 - 8:47a feeling of horror sets within me.
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8:48 - 8:52That is the feeling Picasso
wanted to convey. -
8:56 - 8:58That's how I formed a method
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8:58 - 9:02that I call “Deep Perception”.
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9:03 - 9:06What are the most important skills here?
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9:07 - 9:13First of all, it is seeing
and grasping structures. -
9:13 - 9:17Not simply seeing disparate features
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9:17 - 9:20but structural patterns.
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9:20 - 9:25In this, my method is similar
to Rudolf Arnheim’s views. -
9:26 - 9:32But if he thought that the eye
plays the main role in perception, -
9:34 - 9:37my teaching practice
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9:38 - 9:41showed that it is a multifaceted process
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9:41 - 9:45in which a person
and his entire body are involved. -
9:47 - 9:51That's where I faced great difficulties.
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9:52 - 9:56With every new group of students,
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9:57 - 9:59we struggle for half a year.
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10:00 - 10:03We have to bring
their bodies back to life. -
10:03 - 10:06Their bodies are static, or cold.
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10:07 - 10:11Scary to say, sometimes
their bodies are simply dead. -
10:13 - 10:15This is very difficult.
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10:17 - 10:19When people live within a dead body,
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10:19 - 10:21they live with a closed ego.
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10:21 - 10:24They do not escape the bounds of the ego.
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10:24 - 10:29They cannot appreciate art or even
the whole world around them. -
10:29 - 10:30They react,
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10:32 - 10:34but they cannot perceive it.
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10:35 - 10:41And thus you get
these aggressive judgements, -
10:42 - 10:44“That's the way I see it.
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10:45 - 10:47I love this!
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10:48 - 10:50I don’t like that!
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10:50 - 10:53I don’t like Kandinsky.
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10:53 - 10:56I don’t like the work
of Natalya Goncharova! -
10:57 - 11:00Of course, I don’t like mature Picasso,
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11:00 - 11:02and I obviously don’t like Dali.
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11:03 - 11:04Ah, I forgot!
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11:04 - 11:09I don’t like Rubens and his 'big' ladies.
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11:09 - 11:10I don’t like him.”
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11:12 - 11:16You should ask yourself,
perhaps you just don't know how. -
11:16 - 11:19Maybe you need to learn how to see
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11:20 - 11:23and try to appreciate Rubens
for who he is? -
11:24 - 11:26If we only try to do it,
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11:27 - 11:31the history of art will open up to us.
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11:31 - 11:35Not just as a set of historical facts,
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11:35 - 11:39semantics, iconography,
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11:40 - 11:42but as a history of feeling.
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11:43 - 11:45A history of feeling.
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11:47 - 11:50I also made a very important discovery.
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11:50 - 11:53Deep perception could develop
one’s creativity. -
11:55 - 11:58After lessons, my students
would come up to me -
11:58 - 12:01and say their lives had changed.
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12:04 - 12:05That was moving,
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12:06 - 12:08but only to be expected,
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12:10 - 12:14because perception is the flip side
of the creation of an image. -
12:15 - 12:19An artist experiences a vivid feeling
and incarnates it in a structure. -
12:20 - 12:23A viewer standing before the canvas
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12:23 - 12:27should grasp the structure,
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12:27 - 12:29respond with his body
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12:30 - 12:32and feel inside the same feeling
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12:33 - 12:34that inspired the artist.
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12:35 - 12:40In fact, by perceiving a work of art
we give the image a new birth. -
12:41 - 12:45We possess the same creative capabilities
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12:45 - 12:47that the artist needs.
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12:49 - 12:53Ancient Japan has a marvellous saying
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12:53 - 12:55about the nature of art.
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12:57 - 12:58They say,
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13:00 - 13:02“When the soul of an artist
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13:03 - 13:06is filled to the brim with inspiration,
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13:06 - 13:09what overflows from the soul
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13:10 - 13:12is a work of art."
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13:13 - 13:18A filled soul is a requirement
for making a piece of art. -
13:19 - 13:24And a filled soul is
a requirement for perception, -
13:25 - 13:27deep perception of an image.
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13:28 - 13:31If you live walled off
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13:32 - 13:34inside the limits of your own ego,
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13:34 - 13:36the world will be your enemy.
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13:36 - 13:38You don't understand it,
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13:38 - 13:41you’ll be scared by it and try
to defend yourself from it. -
13:43 - 13:47Art will teach you to overcome
these boundaries, -
13:48 - 13:51perceive another person
and try to understand him. -
13:51 - 13:56And then another person with different
character, different background, -
13:57 - 13:59customs, culture
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14:00 - 14:02will open up to you.
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14:03 - 14:06A point will come when you feel
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14:06 - 14:08that he is your own kin,
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14:09 - 14:11and you will love him.
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14:12 - 14:14That other person,
initially a stranger to you, -
14:14 - 14:17is now here in your heart.
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14:19 - 14:21This is so important in our world,
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14:22 - 14:25with so many wars and conflicts,
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14:25 - 14:27where there are nuclear weapons.
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14:28 - 14:30It’s so important for us, women,
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14:31 - 14:34as we’re always thinking about children.
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14:35 - 14:37Art teaches us to be human beings.
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14:38 - 14:40Mature, responsible human beings.
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14:41 - 14:46Creative beings, the ones
that know and love the world. -
14:48 - 14:50Art is waiting for you.
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14:50 - 14:53Get started right away.
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14:53 - 15:00(Applause)
- Title:
- Art: a new perception | Lyubov Popova | TEDxSadovoeRingWomen
- Description:
-
Can a line express a sense of serenity? And can the color represent a passion? Do the mussels in our body help to perceive a piece of art? Lyubov Popova is convinced that the answer to these questions is "yes". Moreover, this is where lies the key to the perception of art.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- Russian
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 14:58
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