As a service to the public, the Museum of Forgery offers this preliminary timeline of "nominationalism"; that is, key moments when naming something changed its cultural status with respect to art. We welcome suggestions for further entries in the timeline.

1990s

The Museum of Forgery contributes new posthumous artworks to the oeuvres of Marcel Duchamp, Josef Albers, and others.

c. 1980s

JGS Boggs makes detailed, one-sided, exact-size ink drawings of U.S. currency and uses his drawings as money. The government prosecutes him for counterfeiting but is not able to win a conviction.

1965

Hans Haacke considers signing the rain, the ocean, fog, etc. (He decides not to.)

1962

On February 25th, Piero Manzoni issues a certificate of authenticity declaring Marcel Broodthaers a poet.

1960

Yves Klein declares November 27th a worldwide "Theatre du Vide" (Theater of Emptiness).

1950s

Robert Rauschenberg erases a drawing by Willem de Kooing and nominates the resulting almost-blank piece of paper as a new artwork.

1915

Marcel Duchamp nominates a snow shovel as a work of art, calling it "In Advance of a Broken Arm."

4004 B.C. or earlier

Adam names all the creatures of the earth brought to him by God.