At the hostel where I was staying, I found tons of flyers from different museums and restaurants in Zagreb. The one thing that caught my attention was one with the picture of a key on display on. It was the flyer for the Museum of Broken Relationships. On the flyer, the following description is written:
The Museum of Broken Relationships grew from a traveling exhibition revolving around the concept of failed relationships and their ruins. Unlike ‘destructive’ self-help instructions for recovery from failed loves, the Museum offers a chance to overcome an emotional collapse through creation: by contributing to the Museum’s collection.
Conceptualized in Croatia, the Museum has since toured internationally in over 25 cities so far amassing an amazing collection.
Turns out, it was a perfectly lovely little museum with different objects on display, with texts describing their significance for a broken relationship. Some texts were long, others were very short. And on the wall, the following quote was written:
I experience time as a terrible ache… But the good things of life when I have to leave them and think, with all the sensitivity my nerves can muster, that I will never see or have them again at least not as they are in that exact, precise moment, hurt me metaphysically…
F. Pessoa, “Book of Disquiet”
A really impressive collection of odd stuff.
Garterbelts – Spring-autumn 2003, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
I never put them on. The relationship might have lasted longer if I had.
A love letter in shattered glass – San Francisco, California, USA
The sign tells the story of the love letter that never got sent, because the writer’s e-mail asking for the guy’s address was answered with him breaking up. The writer couldn’t get rid of the letter, so in stead she glued it onto a mirror and shattered it. A cathartic ritual, and cool-looking too.
An ex-axe – 1995, Berlin, Germany
This is the axe by which the former owner hacked every single piece of furniture belonging to his/her ex into tiny little pieces, one piece of furniture for every day she was away on holiday with her new love. When she came back to Berlin and called to retrieve her furniture, he presented her with a pile of splinters.
An iron – Stavanger, Norway
This iron was used to iron my wedding suit. Now it is the only thing left.
And all the while I was at the museum, the rain was pouring outside. Heavy, thunderous. Museums can come in handy in many different ways.
A very different kind of museum, this Museum of Broken Relationships. I really liked it.
Katja Malmborg 