The author discusses the philosophy and projects of her Museum of Forgery, an institution dedicated to exploring the aesthetics of forgery. She argues that forgery both illuminates and deeply informs current art practice, contrary to traditional formulations of forgery as a degenerate activity. The MOF is deeply concerned with the nature of authenticity in art, with the shift in aura from individuals to institutions, and with the relationship between object and market in sustaining definitions of art. As a hybrid form, both institution and working artist, the MOF sponsors a host of projects related to forgery, many of which are collaborations. One of the Museum's main bases of operations is the Web, where it exploits diffuse embodiment and virtuality as an intrinsic part of its concern with the boundaries of the real and the fake. Essentially a producer of memes rather than objects, its activities reflect broad changes in the way art is created and proliferated in the 1990s, particularly the shift from a market economy of objects to an exchange economy of ideas.

 

Heidi Gilpin "Economies of Knowledge"

Jon Ippolito "Allowing Art To Expire Is Beautiful But Stupid"

Bill Seaman "An Economy of Means"