About the Museum of Forgery

The Museum of Forgery is a virtual institute dedicated to promoting an appreciation of the aesthetics of forgery. The Museum's ongoing programs include:
  1. Excessioning: creating or commissioning works to be credited to the oeuvres of appropriate artists living and dead.
  2. Do-It-Yourself Forgeries: complete instructions for forging works from museum collections around the world.
  3. Box City: sponsoring a free burial ground for unwanted art and related research into the decomposition of art.
  4. Smothered Art: sponsoring unusual methods for disposing of art.
  5. MOF Library: creating connections to other sites and minds, new and old.

Other programs are undertaken on an as-needed basis in conjunction with the Museum's mandate. The Museum welcomes commissions for forgeries in line with its stated interests and encourages suggestions for future projects.

 Dear Museum of Forgery:

Q: Can you refer me to any sources on how to learn to forge paintings, what materials to use to stay in period, and how to age them appropriately?
A: A careful review of our web site should make it clear that the Museum of Forgery does not consider training in the craft of forgery, faking, or counterfeiting part of its mandate. There are plenty of public sources you can research in order to figure this out for yourself, starting with any good public library. Whether this is likely to be a rewarding career choice is, of course, another question entirely.

Q: Can you tell me how to counterfeit money?
A: May we suggest that emailing this question to someone you've never met and know nothing about indicates that you are probably not cut out to be a successful counterfeiter?

Q: I just searched for a museum to go to over the internet, and I happened to locate the Museum of Forgery. Where can I go to see this museum, if it does exist at all?
A: As the Museum of Forgery is a virtual organization, the Internet is the only place you can visit it (thanks for dropping by!). Those of its collections that are held in real space are not open to the general public, for the most part, but are available to researchers under special circumstances. A small branch of the Museum of Forgery is housed at the Institute of Cultural Inquiry in Los Angeles. Its most vital collections, however, are held here in cyberspace.

Q: Your clock says l am visitor #000001; is it working or am l the only person interested in forgery?
A: As a small courtesy to our public, every visitor is Number 1 at the Museum of Forgery. (Would you really expect us to have a counter that works normally?)


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