A bicycle stood upside down on its saddle and handlebarsTitle: Repair, Postponed. Spin the front wheel once before anyone arrives and let it slow.
A book shelved backward, page edges out and spine to the wallTitle: Anonymous. No name and no author show. Stand it alone on an otherwise empty shelf.
A broom leaned in a corner with its bristles at the topTitle: Palm Tree. Head up, the handle becomes a trunk. The corner keeps it standing.
A bucket turned upside down on bare floorTitle: In Memory of a Sandcastle. One bucket, no sand. The missing castle is the subject.
A coat hanger hung upside down, its hook pointing at the floorTitle: Question Mark. Rest the bar on one nail. The hook hangs below and asks.
A colander turned over to sit as a domeTitle: Small Planetarium. Stand it at eye level so the holes read as a night sky.
A drawer pulled out of its chest and stood on endTitle: High-Rise. Upright, the handle is a front door and the inside one tall room.
A funnel set down on its wide end, spout in the airTitle: Hat for Nobody. On a shelf at head height it stops being a kitchen tool.
A paper bag stood upside down, its flat bottom on topTitle: Plinth for Nothing. It holds its own shape. Light the empty space above it.
A stepladder laid flat on the floorTitle: Railway. Lying down it climbs nowhere. Point it at a wall so the track has somewhere to go.
A television turned to face the wallTitle: Private Screening. Leave it on with the sound low. Light spills round the edges.
A wheelbarrow stood on its nose against a wallTitle: Shield. Upright, the tray faces the room like armor and the handles become raised arms.
A wooden stool stood upside down, four legs in the airTitle: Table for Birds. Leave it on the floor where a stool goes, so the turn is the only change.
An ironing board stood on end, nose to the ceilingTitle: Surfboard, Landlocked. Legs folded flat, leaned on the wall as if waiting for a wave.
An open umbrella set down on its canopy like a bowlTitle: Waiting for Rain. Handle up, indoors, as far from a window as the room allows.
Pair it 15
A carpenter's level laid across a pillowTitle: Sleep Study. On something that soft the bubble keeps wandering. Let visitors watch it.
A doorknob resting on a satin cushionTitle: Crown Jewel. The fancier the cushion, the stranger the knob. Show it under a spotlight.
A light bulb resting in an egg cupTitle: Soft-Boiled Idea. The bulb fits as if made for it. Show it at breakfast-table height.
A necktie knotted round the neck of a desk lampTitle: Middle Management. Bend the lamp's head down a little, as if it were reading.
A padlock closed through the handle of a teacupTitle: Reserved. The cup still works, which is the joke. Saucer under it, key nowhere in sight.
A pair of headphones placed on a desk globeTitle: World Radio. Set the ear cups over two oceans and leave the cable unplugged.
A pocket calculator on a music standTitle: Sonata for One Finger. Stand at playing height, calculator switched off.
A rubber sink stopper set in the center of a mirror laid flatTitle: Do Not Drain the Sky. The mirror shows the ceiling and the stopper turns it to water.
A sand timer set beside an unplugged kettleTitle: Watched Pot. Turn the timer when a visitor walks in. The kettle stays cold.
A single shoe on a dinner plate with a fork beside itTitle: Long Walk Home. Lay the place setting properly. The table manners make the shoe a meal.
A whisk standing in a narrow vaseTitle: Bouquet, Stainless. Add nothing. One whisk in a vase already reads as a flower.
A winter glove pulled over the top peg of a coat standTitle: Volunteer. The highest peg, so one hand is raised above everyone's head.
A wristwatch buckled round a table legTitle: Furniture Keeps Time. Fasten it at ankle height so visitors bend down to read it.
One toothbrush in a jar of paintbrushesTitle: New Student. Turn its bristles the same way as the others so it takes a moment to find.
Two chairs pushed face to face so neither can be sat inTitle: Private Conversation. Seats touching, in the middle of the room, backs to everyone.
Rename it 15
A door wedge titled as a piece of architectureTitle: The Smallest Ramp in the City. Give it a low plinth and an architect's dry wording.
A dry kitchen sponge titled as a natural wonderTitle: Coral Reef, Dried. Show it on a white shelf and word the label like a science museum.
A half-used bar of soap titled as a carvingTitle: Sculpture Carved by Hands. Show it on its dish and give the weeks of washing as the date.
A light switch already on the wall, given a label of its ownTitle: Day and Night, Interactive. Nothing moves but the label, stuck beside the switch.
A paper clip titled as a mapTitle: Route Home, With One Detour. Pin it flat on white card so the loops read as a drawn line.
A plain comb given the grandest title you can writeTitle: Instrument for Parting the Sea. Print the label as a museum would, with year and material.
A polished spoon titled as a self-portraitTitle: Self-Portrait in a Small Room. Hang it at face height so each visitor sees their own.
A ring of old keys titled for the doors they no longer openTitle: Four Addresses. Old keys only. Name the kinds of place on the label, never the streets.
A rubber band titled as a drawingTitle: Circle, Freehand. Drop it on white paper and leave it exactly as it lands.
A ruler titled as a slice of something far biggerTitle: Twelve Inches of the Equator. Mount it level. The confident claim is what holds the eye.
A sealed cardboard box titled for what might be insideTitle: Contents: One Excellent Idea. Tape it shut and keep it shut for the whole show.
A single battery titled as weatherTitle: Thunderstorm, Stored. Stand it upright and alone on a white shelf.
A stapler titled as a family portraitTitle: My Uncle, Who Held the Family Together. A long title suits a small object.
A worn eraser titled as the record of a yearTitle: Everything I Got Wrong This Year. A used one, rounded at a corner, beats a new one.
One sock titled as half of somethingTitle: Half of a Conversation. Lay it flat, heel up, and never show the pair.
Place it 15
A desk fan on a windowsill, facing out through the glassTitle: Helping the Wind. Switched off. From outside it looks as if it is trying.
A doormat hung on the wall at eye level like a paintingTitle: Welcome, Unframed. Hang it straight and give it the label a painting would get.
A dry paintbrush resting inside an empty picture frame on the wallTitle: The Artist Is Out. Hang the frame where a painting should go, brush on its lower edge.
A floor lamp alone in the middle of a lawnTitle: Room Without Walls. Photograph it at dusk from far off. The photo is what most people see.
A mop standing in the best-lit corner, roped offTitle: Do Not Touch. A cord between two chairs is rope enough. The barrier does the work.
A pair of rain boots at the foot of a blank wall, toes touching itTitle: Visitor. A step too close to the wall, as if someone were still standing in them.
A pencil stub under an upturned drinking glassTitle: Specimen. The glass is the display case. Add a numbered tag like a natural history museum.
A radio at the far end of a long empty corridor, playing quietlyTitle: Someone Is Home. Visitors hear it before they find it. Tune it to talk, not music.
A row of coat hooks laid on the floor in the middle of the roomTitle: Trip Hazard, Domestic. Tape a square on the floor round it. The square is the frame.
A saucepan on the floor directly under a ceiling lightTitle: Collecting Light. It stands where a drip pan would. The lamp does the leaking.
A sheet of sandpaper in a frame with a wide white matTitle: Desert From the Air. Frame it as carefully as a drawing and hang it alone.
A single clothespin hung from the ceiling on one long threadTitle: Nothing to Dry. At eye height. Any draft turns it, and its shadow with it.
A thimble alone on a tall white plinthTitle: Monument. The more plinth and the less thimble, the better. Light it from above.
A thumbtack in the exact center of a white wall, holding nothingTitle: Lost Notice. Measure the center. The precision lets a pin hold a whole wall.
A ticking wall clock laid face up on the floorTitle: Puddle of Time. Visitors look down to read the hour, the way they would check a watch.
How it works
Sixty readymade art ideas, sorted by the one move that turns an everyday object into a piece: turn it, pair it with another, rename it, or place it where it does not belong. Nothing is glued, cut or painted.
Read the full guide
How to make a readymade
Choose something ordinary, useful and rather dull: the first readymades were picked for having neither good taste nor bad. Make one move and stop. A turned stool needs no second object, a renamed comb no plinth. Then write the label as a museum would: title, year, materials.
Readymades for an art class project
Take something that fits in a bag: the paper clip pinned as a route home, the padlock through a teacup handle, the rubber band dropped on white paper. Bring the label with it. In the critique, expect two questions: why this object, and why this move.
Borrow nothing that will be missed. The object is out of use for as long as the piece is on show.
Photograph the piece where it stands before you take it down. The object goes back in the drawer; the photo is the record.
Questions and answers
What is a readymade in art?
A work of art made from a manufactured object that the artist chose and did not make. The word was itself ready-made: by the end of the nineteenth century it described goods that were manufactured, not made by hand.
How does an ordinary object become a readymade?
By being chosen, placed and named. A magazine editorial of May 1917 put the case: the artist took an ordinary article of life and placed it so that its useful meaning disappeared under a new title and point of view.
What is the difference between a readymade and a found object?
A found object can be natural or man-made: a bone, a flint, a matchbox, kept because the artist sees something in it. A readymade is a manufactured object shown more or less intact as the work itself.
Is a readymade the same as assemblage?
No. Assemblage joins many pieces, often everyday objects, into one new thing. On this list a readymade stays one object, or a few set together unchanged. Later, more elaborate readymades were called assisted readymades.