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The pursuit of the perfect body is as old as time. But who defines perfection?

The Patina-V Mannequin Factory in the City of Industry, California, has created the perfect woman: she’s tall, slender, and made of plastic. In 34x25x36, the director Jesse Epstein takes us into a world where art, craftsmanship, and commerce meet, and where contemporary standards of beauty are simultaneously reflected and defined.

Director: Jesse Epstein

Producers: Trish Dalton, Jesse Epstein

28 March 2014
Photo of a hand holding an ornate tarot card with a decorative illustration, two other cards on a black surface in the background.

videoDesign and fashion

Beyond fortune-telling – the enduring beauty and allure of tarot

16 minutes

Painting of philosophers gathered in a grand classical building, featuring figures in colourful robes with an archway framing the sky in the background.

videoHistory of ideas

How to read ‘The School of Athens’ – a triumph of Renaissance art

25 minutes

Two women sitting in a car, one is wearing glasses and a headscarf, the other has short hair and red sunglasses.

videoGender

In an act of resistance, Elahe forgoes a hijab at a family party

27 minutes

Photo of a man in a colourful patterned shirt lying in water looking upwards with a focused expression.

videoArt

Finding the spirit of Haiti through a tour of its contemporary art

20 minutes

Illustration of a blue dragonfly, a green leaf insect and a brown butterfly wing on a light background.

videoHistory of science

Insect aesthetics – long viewed as pests, in the 16th century bugs became beautiful

8 minutes

Painting of a vast landscape featuring rocky hills, a woman with a child and distant snow-capped mountains under a cloudy sky.

videoNature and landscape

After independence, Mexico was in search of identity. These paintings offered a blueprint

15 minutes

Vintage photo of people erecting tall structures in a tropical setting with palm trees and a thatched building.

videoArt

A young Rockefeller collects art on a fateful journey to New Guinea

7 minutes

Black and white photo of a woman sitting in front of a bookshelf wearing a light blouse and speaking.

videoAnthropology

Margaret Mead explains why the family was entering a brave new world in this 1959 film

29 minutes

Abstract painting of textured forms resembling fibres and foliage overlaid on an antique map background.

videoArt

Defying classification, fantastical artworks reframe the racism of Carl Linnaeus

8 minutes