I have a confession to make: I'm not a huge fan of museums. I used to think they were somewhat interesting, but then I went to a bunch of them in Europe and got museum-ed out. I think I went to the Louvre one too many times (yes, it's possible! For me, anyway). I can appreciate the concept of museums, but I don't know - walking around to look at art with lots of other people always makes me feel a little claustrophobic and pretentious, even though I don't really know much about any kinds of art. I think if I really want to enjoy a museum, I need to go with someone who knows a lot about art and who can point out interesting things about each piece to me. Unfortunately, I don't know many people like this.
Anyway, I do like quirky museums, or exhibits that you don't normally think of when you picture museums. The Museum of Broken Relationships definitely belongs in this category.
Basically, it's a museum filled with things left over from relationships that have ended, many of them donated by locals. Since this exhibit was held in Taipei, many objects were given by Taiwanese people who have been in and subsequently gotten out of a relationship, for a myriad of reasons. Each object - whether it was a camera, a necklace, a pair of mannequin's hands (yeah, I found that weird, too) - has a story attached to it, which was helpfully provided by the curators in both Chinese and English. Some of those stories were quirky, some were sad (like the one about someone's mom abandoning them at 3), some were long-winded (here's where I could really appreciate the art of translation) - but all of them represented real people and real relationships.
Like others who have seen this exhibit, I was intrigued by its concept of presenting incredibly sentimental objects on display in order to encourage a kind of collective mourning and recognition - a way to create dialogue about intimacy and heartbreak among strangers. Because as personal as a break-up is, and as varied as the ways in which it can occur, it's also something that many of us have experienced at one time or another.
In most cultures, or at least the ones that I've been exposed to, break-ups are usually talked about in the private sphere, with trusted family members and friends. But here was a chance for people to share their break-up stories publicly and through something very tangible, via a once-treasured gift from a former love or something that continually reminded them of that special someone. Many of the stories shared mentioned that the owner, despite no longer being with their partner, couldn't bear to throw out something because there was too much emotion attached to it. Donating it to such a museum was the perfect solution.
There were two barriers to me seeing this exhibit. One was the rain. Of course, it rained like mad today and there was no awning outside the museum to prevent people who were waiting to enter the exhibit from getting soaked. Second was the crowd. I waited a little over an hour to get inside the museum; that's how crowded it was. In retrospect, this wasn't surprising since it was the very last day that the exhibit would be on display in Taipei, and I'm glad I caught it, but man, waiting one hour outside in the rain is no picnic. Especially when you're hungry and you already finished that onigiri you bought for breakfast.
Barriers aside, I enjoyed the Museum of Broken Relationships and recommend seeing it if you ever get the chance.
Some pictures:
It says that her ex-boyfriend gave her some nasal spray to use on him to stop his snoring. She used to not be able to fall asleep because he snored so loudly. Now she can't fall asleep because she has a broken heart.
At the very end of the exhibit you could write your own letter to an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend to be put on display with everyone else's - a nice touch with the whole life imitates art thing.
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