Museum collects memories of broken relationships

By Chung Hyun-chae

For those who spent Valentine’s Day lamenting lost love, a forthcoming exhibition will offer a chance to let go of painful memories by donating mementos from past relationships.

The “Museum of Broken Relationships” will provide a display of exhibits on Jeju Island along with the Arario Museum from May 5 to Sept. 25.

The exhibition tours the world, with the permanent museum in Zagreb, Croatia. Artists Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic, who broke up after a four-year relationship, set up the museum in 2006.

The exhibition consists of items from broken relationships. People donate objects to the museum, where more than 1,000 are on display.

The collection has traveled to 35 cities in 18 countries including Argentina, Germany, the Philippines, Singapore, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The museum received the European Museum Forum’s Kenneth Hudson Award for being Europe’s most innovative museum in 2011.

The Arario Museum began receiving donations on Sunday, Valentine’s Day, with acceptances closing on March 14, White Day, another day for people seeking relationships.

For the Korea exhibition, anyone can apply to donate to the museum’s collection by writing their stories about their former loves and state what the items meant to them on the Museum of Broken Relationships’ website (https://brokenships.com/en/join/korea_donations).

The items will be exhibited anonymously at the museum, with captions about the love stories.

For more information, email info@arariomuseum.org, call (02) 760-1740 or (064) 720-8205 or visit the Arario Museum’s website (https://www.arariomuseum.org).