Museum of Broken Relationships

Overview

Aaahh falling in love — 'tis both a blessing and, when it all ends in tears and razor blades, a wicked, wicked curse. Most of us have known the heartache and pain that comes with the unwanted ending of a beautiful love story. It is at this end point that the gifts, photographs, scent-infused t-shirts and other memorabilia accumulated over the course of the relationship take on revered status, as they come to symbolise and embody that lost love long after the actual object of our affection has left the building. It's hard to let go sometimes and, unlike other significant life events, break-ups are not typically marked by any shared rituals or rights of passage to help us move through our grief.

With this obvious gap in the in the market of shared human suffering in mind, Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisi founded the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, Croatia, where people can donate and share their love memorabilia in an effort to achieve communal catharthis through the sharing of this most bittersweet of experiences. Aside from the more obvious letters and teddy bears, objects on display at the museum have included an axe, a gallstone and even a prosthetic leg (hopefully taken with at least begrudging permission from it's previous owner and not stolen in a fit of scorned-lover-style rage). The museum unveiled it's permanent collection in October 2010 and now receives over 1000 visitors each week.

In an extension of this unique exhibition, Griffin Studios are inviting us to send in our own love memorabilia over the next three months for eventual display on 8 June 2011 in our very own Museum of Broken Relationships. These objects will also provide inspirational material for resident artists Ian Meadows, Kate Mulvany, Shannon Murphy and Paige Rattray to create a series of related works. You can send your love relics, preferably but not necessarily with an accompanying story or context, to 13 Craigend St, Kings Cross 2011 (or drop off in person to the same address — the white terrace house on the corner of Nimrod St). They say a burden shared is a burden halved. Perhaps the same can be said for broken hearts.