Department Blog
Department news, events, and snapshots of student life at SVA in New York City.
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MASTERS THESIS: It's Chinese To Me, by Lusha Huang
Lusha Huang’s master’s thesis, It’s Chinese to me: Luck and Cultural Empathy, explores the disconnect between Chinese an American culture. As a Chinese student in an international design department, Lusha enthusiastically took on the role of messenger—eager to share her country’s tradition and philosophy with others. Her over-arching goal is to build a cultural bridge, fostering understanding between Americans and Chinese. Central to her thesis is the theme of luck, which dates back to ancient China and has always been extremely important to Chinese culture.
MASTERS THESIS: Things, by Elisa Werbler
Elisa Werbler’s master’s thesis, Things, explores how we ascribe value to our everyday possessions. It examines the things we cherish from our past, the things that signify our relationships with others, the things we consume, the things we share, and the things we can’t bear to part with. Western society suffers from an affliction known as “loss-aversion”—the pain of losing something is greater than the pleasure of gaining something. This term, coined by world renowned psychologist Daniel Kahneman, goes hand in hand with what’s known as “the endowment effect”—the idea that something is more valuable to you than anyone else, simply because it’s yours. The combination of these two ideas led Werbler down a path of trying to pinpoint the exact moment when a decision is being made about something, whether it is in anticipation of a purchase, or an attempt to let go.
MASTERS THESIS: The Spectacle, by Brandon Washington
Brandon Washington's master's thesis, The Spectacle, is an investigation into Guy Debord's theory of the same name and how it relates to contemporary society. The spectacle is a communication tool that employs fantasy in order to sell the idea of how we should live our lives, and what we should aspire to be.