07/06/2026
Objects major Luca Denegre is spending the second half of his third year internship at the Brooklyn Museum, under the supervision of objects conservator Kate Wight Tyler (WUDPAC ‘09), chief conservator Lisa Bruno (WUDPAC ‘93), and assistant objects conservators Mike Galardi, Celeste Mahoney, and Isabel Schneider.
Since January, Luca has treated a variety of objects and materials and assisted with activities in the lab, including gallery maintenance for Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party”, installation of a work in the exhibition “Iris Van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses” and the filling and inpainting of a polyurethane foam “Capitello” chair designed by Studio 65. Kate and Isabel recently presented on their treatment of the chair and their tailored foamed methyl cellulose fill recipe at AIC in Montreal.
Independent treatment projects have included Egyptian ceramic and stone objects, Cree embroidered hide mittens, and a painted child’s table from the 1920s. Luca’s next project is a 1980s plastic Enorme Telephone, designed by Ettore Sottsass, founder of the Memphis Group. Recently, 500 original unopened Enorme Telephones were discovered in California, bringing this object back into the limelight. Having been stored since the 80s, styrofoam from the original packaging has become stuck to the surface of the PVC phone cord. Treatment will include documentation of the phone and original packaging, testing removal of the styrofoam residues, and determining appropriate long term storage for the object. Luca hopes to work with time based media intern Babs Chernyavsky (Buffalo ‘28) to record the sounds of the phone, such as the ringtone and button beeps for future use by the museum.
Image 1: Luca helping with gallery maintenance of Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party”.
Image 2: Luca Denegre and co-intern Halina Piasecki (NYU ‘26), assisting project conservator Isabel Schneider with the treatment of “Capitello”.
Image 3: "Enorme Telephone". Ettore Sottsass Jr., David Kelley, Designed 1986. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Jean Pigozzi, 2025.47. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Image 4: Before treatment photo of "Enorme Telephone" cord in original packaging, with styrofoam residues
