The Museum of Broken Relationships

Wow, this sorta sucks.

The Museum of Broken Relationships is a traveling museum show which displays personal mementos from failed relationships donated by local, heartbroken lovers.

The exhibition, which began in Croatia, has collected more than 300 items so far, including at least one ax used to destroy furniture owned by a cheating partner. Each donation must be accompanied by a note describing why the item was of importance to the relationship and the role that it may have played. In the case of the photo above, one spurned lover writes, "A gift from S.K. She loved antiquities. It mattered that the object is old and not functioning. That is exactly the reason why we are not together any more."

The concept of the exhibit is the ability to take an object loaded down with memories and basically set it free of these shackles by donating it to the museum. According to the website, "The individual gets rid of 'controversial objects,' triggers of momentarily 'undesirable' emotions, by turning them into museum exhibits, i.e., artifacts, and thereby participating in the creation of a preserved collective emotional history."

Personally, I can't think of a more depressing museum to visit. Nonetheless, The Museum of Broken Relationships is drawing huge crowds in Berlin where it's currently being displayed. Next up is Belgrade, Skopje and Stockholm.

Filed under: Activism, Stories