The Museum of Broken Relationships

The Museum of Broken Relationships was established to collect donations of the personal belongings left over after a relationship ends. It began as a touring exhibition, and now also has a permanent facility in Zagreb, Croatia.

Something about the concept just grabs my heart and squeezes it. Anyone who has lost a serious relationship, for whatever reason, can probably relate to the burden of dealing with all the physical remnants, things that have no significance or value to anyone else but whose meaning is too specific and painful to keep them around once the relationship is gone. On a personal level, to know that there is some place that would accept this detritus - some place other than Goodwill or the dump - gave me a strange sense of relief, even though I don't think I have anything to donate to the museum, or any intention to do so even if I did.

I think the museum's "About" page on their website puts it well: "the Museum offers a chance to overcome an emotional collapse through creation: by contributing to the Museum's collection." It offers a ritual of closure, one that, they point out, is lacking in our culture even though we have other ceremonies to mark life's transitions. And it makes a museum the space for and focus of that ritual.

The Museum of Broken Relationships presents an interesting idea of what museums are, or can be. In a way it's a shrine: none of these objects, no matter how utilitarian, will ever be used for their original purpose again. It's a place to commemorate something that has ended, some frozen and irrevocably passed moment symbolized by the things on display. It also is a place to move forward, both for the people who send in their objects and for the people who visit.

And it seems very, almost painfully, human. The inspiration for the museum was the founders' own broken relationship, and of course its collection depends on the interest and participation of other regular people. It sounds like some of the donated objects were created intentionally as art, but nevertheless, everything, no matter how mundane or creative, shares a common theme - one that almost everyone can relate to.

In my imaginary museum, I would love to create exhibitions like this, drawing together art and cultural artifacts and personal stories and history to reflect a theme of the human experience.