18.45 Talks | Ancient Objects / Future Tools • Skylar Masuda

Our January guest for the 18.45 Talks series is Skylar Masuda. Her presentation will delve into the intricate processes behind museum collections, exploring how antiquities are preserved, curated, and displayed in modern museum contexts. Drawing from her extensive experience with archaeological artifacts and museum environments, Masuda will provide a unique perspective on the evolving relationship between ancient objects and contemporary exhibition practices. Skylar Masuda will be at İskele on Thursday, January 30th, at 18.45! 
 

Skylar Masuda is a Fulbright Research Fellow for 2024-2025, conducting her studies in Türkiye. Her ongoing project in Istanbul examines the exhibition practices of repatriated antiquities in Turkish museums using design research methods, exploring the relationship between ancient artifacts and modern museum contexts. Between 2021 and 2024, Masuda worked at the Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity (The Hive) in Claremont, California. She was part of the UX team, focusing on creating accessible and welcoming environments. Simultaneously, she taught silk-screen printing to students within the Print Lab team and served on the organization’s Executive Committee. During the summer of 2022, Masuda worked as a Getty Marrow Undergraduate Intern in the Antiquities Curatorial Department at Getty Villa, gaining experience in museum curation, collection management, and work with ancient artifacts. In 2023, she interned with the Archaeological Study Collection at the American Academy in Rome, focusing on cataloging, inventory, and research, primarily on glass objects from Palatine Hill and artifacts from the Ostia excavation site. Since June 2023, she has served as a field archaeologist at the ancient site of Morgantina in Sicily, conducting excavations on finds from the Roman period. Additionally, as of 2024, she has been working with the Southern Etruscan Tomb Survey team, analyzing LiDAR data and contributing to a publication documenting the Cerveteri necropolis.