2002-2003: Beginnings

Noterdaeme decides to create a fictitious museum to mock the cultural establishment. He gives his museum the moniker "homeless," calling it the Homeless Museum, or HoMu, to suggest a museum without a home and allude to one of the last taboos and most pressing issues of our time. He invents an alter ego for himself, the "Museum Director," and enlists other fictitious characters to form HoMu's Board of Directors. He sends tongue-in-cheek, "official" letters to high-profile cultural institutions and corporate organizations. He produces several HoMu videos, depicting, among others, a Dada prank, a staged board meeting, and a panhandling robot.

June 2003: HoMu is official inaugurated in Chelsea, NYC

Noterdaeme turns a vacant artist studio into a HoMu showcase, complete with a snack bar, a shop and a membership program. Works on view include the $0 Collection and the Champagne Campaign.
First screening of HoMu-produced videos.
The exhibit stays up for three weeks.

August 2003: HoMu launches its website, homelessmuseum.org

On the website, Noterdaeme defines HoMu as "a product of New York City's cultural decline, [...] a budget-and-staff-free, unaccredited arts organization that enables and engages cultural dialogue practiced at the intersection of the arts and homelessness."

September 2003: HoMu participates in Quixotic, a group exhibition curated by Gabrielle Giattino at the Slingshot Project Gallery (Soho, NYC)

Noterdaeme presents the first Homeless Simulator, an interactive installation involving mini-golf and panhandling (an updated version will eventually resurface at HoMu's headquarters, HoMu BKLYN).

Spring 2004: HoMu Collection grows

Noterdaeme creates a series of white canvases covered with signatures by homeless men and women (We, The Homeless).

November 2004: HoMu organizes a protest action against the renovated Museum of Modern Art's new admission policy

Noterdaeme publicly criticizes the Museum of Modern Art for raising its admission fee to $20 (a 67% increase). On November 21, MoMA's official opening day, he and a group of 20 supporters pay their $20 admission in pennies, totaling 40,000 coins.

January 2005: Select HoMu videos become part of e-flux video rental (EVR)

March 2005: HoMu participates at the Armory Show and inaugurates HoMu BKLYN

Noterdaeme introduces HoMu at the Armory Show in a 5-day marathon performance presented by the Swiss Institute (SI) and creates a showcase for HoMu in his rental apartment in Brooklyn Heights, NY. The inauguaration of the aptly named HoMu BKLYN, held on March 13, is co-hosted by SI and the Armory Show.

April 2005: Second HoMu BKLYN opening

Noterdaeme begins to hold monthly openings at his home-museum. Openings are semi-private, announced through the HoMu membership list.

November 2005: HoMu introduces MoMA HMLSS, a free alternative to the Museum of Modern Art

On November 21, the anniversary of MoMA's reopening, Noterdaeme publicly displays MoMA HMLSS, a museum-in-a-suitcase containing miniature versions of highlights from the MoMa collection, across from the Modern's main entrance on 53rd Street.

Spring 2006: Word-of-mouth about HoMu BKLYN spreads

First write-ups on HoMu appear in local magazines and newspapers.

June 2006: HoMu takes part in Grand Arts' event series Urban Test Sites

Noterdaeme creates HoMu Cribs, a museum-for-a-day presented in several volunteers' homes and gardens in Kansas City (MO).

October 2006: HoMu BKLYN expands

Noterdaeme inaugurates HoMu BKLYN's first architectural expansion:The Chicken Wing.

March 2007: HoMu BKLYN closes its doors to the public

Pressured by his landlord, Noterdaeme is forced to stop hosting openings at HoMu BKLYN. He continues to use his residence as HoMu's headquarters and showcase. To maintain the illusion of living in a museum, Noterdaeme positions two mannequin-visitors in the apartment, Visitor I and Visitor II.

April 2007: HoMu participates in Grand Arts' group exhibition, From the Fat of the Land

For the exhibit, Noterdaeme creates Fat Minimalism, a series of minimalist-style sculptures made of rendered chicken fat.

November - December 2007: HoMu participates in "The Dotted Line - the Aesthetics of Administration"

The group show, held at the BRIC Rotunda Gallery in Brooklyn Heights, NY, is curated by Colby Chamberlain, Managing Editor of Cabinet Magazine.

December 2007: The Homeless Museum becomes The Homeless Museum of Art

Prompted by multiple misinterpretations of its mission, Filip Noterdaeme decides to change the name of his art project to The Homeless Museum of Art (HOMU).

October - November 2008: Mission on the Bowery

Director Noterdaeme hits the Bowery on the Lower East Side in Manhattan with his new portable HOMU booth, positioning himself at the intersection between the New Museum of Contemporary Art and the Bowery Mission.
Read a New York Times report of his performance here).

October 2009 - May 2012: HOMU on the High Line

Director Noterdaeme hits the sidewalk of the Chelsea gallery district with a series of interactive performances at the HOMU Booth, culminating with an invitation to perform at the art book fair at PS1 and a summer residency on the High Line.
Read a Huffington Post article of his performance here).

March 2013: Filip Noterdaeme publishes The Autobiography of Daniel J. Isengart

Using Gertrude Stein's THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALICE B. TOKLAS as a template, Filip Noterdaeme's THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DANIEL J. ISENGART tells the story of two eccentric expatriates who find love in New York City and carve out a delirious, dadaesque life on the margins of the contemporary art world.
The book is published by OUTPOST19.