Urban Experiences–The Homeless Museum

Have you ever seen a museum without an address? The Homeless Museum(or “HoMu”), a compact stand around Chelsea, equipped with sculptures and a microphone stand, is the weirdest and smallest museum on the street. The artist Filip Moterdaeme first opened “HoMu” at his Brooklyn apartment in 2003. Let’s take a look of this place:

Moterdaeme actually lived in the museum himself. Since its inception in 2002, it has at turns been a live-in museum in a rental apartment in Brooklyn, an activist's initiative, an exhibit in a vacant artist studio, a collection of original artworks, and a mock museum booth embedded in a commercial art fair. Juggling irreverence and sincerity, HoMu seeks to subvert the increasingly impersonal, market-driven art world and expose the sellout of cultural institutions to commerce, cronyism, real estate, and star architects. HoMu exists in a state of perpetual flux and continues to defy the rules of the established art world.

From Moterdaeme's ironic humor, MoMu has been controversial but also very attractive to the public. By using satire, he successfully and creatively represents his view of the relationship between artists and the museum: If the artists cannot have their work in the museum, then create a museum of their own! A pamphlet at his museum-stand says:

“My museum is small and admits only two visitors at a time, but it holds all the vital elements of a contemporary art museum–minus the shop and cafe. The HOMU booth is ticket counter, information desk, exhibition hall, press department and director’s office, all in one…”

Extended reading:

http://nonewenemies.net/2010/10/28/homeless-museum/

Website of HoMu:

http://www.homelessmuseum.org/