Masako Shiba

Masako Shiba is a curator, cultural strategist, and institutional leader working at the intersection of space, artificial intelligence, and contemporary culture. As a Japanese American based in Brooklyn, New York, she brings a distinctly cross-cultural perspective bridging artistic, scientific, and technological communities across the US, Asia, and beyond.

As Co-founder and Executive Director of the Brooklyn Experimental Art Foundation (BEAF), Masako builds frameworks enabling deep collaboration between artists, scientists, and space-sector stakeholders. Under her leadership, BEAF was selected as the international curriculum partner for the DAT project supported by Japan's Cultural Ministry — a three-year government-supported initiative training the next generation of Japanese new media art specialists — and established a flagship U.S. residency partnership with the Contemporary Art Foundation.

Her work in space culture includes directing Yasuo Nomura's PION — the first artwork exhibited on the exterior of the International Space Station — bringing her to NASA's Kennedy Space Center for the launch. As curator for the Osaka Kansai International Art Festival, she presented the work at Osaka University, the very institution where Nobel laureate Dr. Hideki Yukawa developed the theoretical physics in the 1930s that inspired it. As Chief Artistic Director at Spacetainment PTE. LTD., she continues to position art as a vehicle for public engagement with space exploration and the human experience beyond Earth.

Masako served as Director of Art Programs for the International Artificial Life Conference (ALife 2025) in Kyoto, curating works by leading artists at the forefront of art, technology, and the human condition, including LuYang, Sasha Stiles, and Kevin Heisner. Her prior leadership includes Inaugural Director of the ACC Japan Foundation and Co-founder & CCO of ONBD. She is a columnist for the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) and a frequent speaker at international art and technology forums.