Student Artists Give Luck a Chance

Students from the six ProArts Consortium schools displayed their works on the theme of luck at Berklee.
By
Darry Madden
May 9, 2012

Oscilloscopes, an installation by Andrew Hlynsky, a student at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.

Photo by Darry Madden

Blur, and blur, and blur, photography by KwangHoon Han, a student at Berklee. Han explained that capturing long, blurry exposures was an accident at first, but since then he has been making them to capture colorful memories that can't be described in a single cut.

Photo by Darry Madden

Experiments in Time and Color by Samson Mengsteab, a Berklee student. This piece is a musical instrument that leaves rhythm and pitch up to gravity and chance. The players are encouraged to let go of preconceived notions of what rhythm and time are--what color, pitch, and timbres should be--and open themselves up the mysterious universe around them.

Photo by Darry Madden

Create Your Own Luck, installation by Ariel DiOrio, a student at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Viewers were encouraged to take a door template and fill in the blank space with their own ideas of what "possibilities are," then decorate and leave it for someone else.

Photo by Darry Madden

You Can Always Marry Rich, Acrylic and Ink, a visual response to the suggestion that the artist, Katrina Majkut, could only find "success" as an artist by finding a rich husband. Majkut is a student at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.

Photo by Darry Madden

Cybertherapy, an interactive Twitter-based therapist, by Amanda Trock, a student at Emerson College. Visitors to the cybertherapist tweeted their problem with the hashtag #cybertherapy and waited for the therapist's advice. The aim of the project was to explore "media as therapy" and how it may be a poor replacement for genuine human exchange.

Photo by Darry Madden

Part of the Gallery of Bad Luck, which also included spilled salt sculptures, by Max Sergienko, a Berklee student. Viewers were encourage to tempt fate through acts that are traditionally believed to cause bad luck, then to contact him with stories and reactions.

Photo by Darry Madden

Part of the Gallery of Bad Luck, which also included broken mirrors, by Max Sergienko, a Berklee student. Sergienko writes, "Many of us are superstitious. We believe in unseen forces, the power of our actions to positively or negatively affect our destinies, and in the inevitable and deserved rewards or consequences."

Photo by Darry Madden

Untitled, created with wood and staples, by Monica Chiang, a student at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Photo by Darry Madden

The art installation Give Luck a Chance featured works by students from the six ProArts Consortium schools: Berklee College of Music, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Emerson College, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Conservatory, and Boston Architectural College.

In honor of Friday the 13th, the projects explored the themes of fortune, accident, and improvisation. Installations and galleries filled nearly all available walls in the Berklee Activities Center and Cafe 939, while the sounds of live performances filled the air.

Click on the photo slideshow on the left to view the pieces.

"Give Luck a Chance showcased the extraordinary talent and inventiveness of the students from across the ProArts schools." said Ross Bresler, executive director of ProArts. "This student-planned and student-produced event demonstrated the power of collaborative work and the strength of the artistic community here in Boston.

In addition to collaborative events like this, ProArts is committed to providing its member schools with opportunities to expand their vision of the arts through programs such as expansive cross-registration privileges and inter-institutional courses.