this time ~ this space

Cutting the arms off his designer suits, putting her prized wine collection out on the street for passers-by, or burning the collection of love letters are just some of the ways in which jilted lovers are known to have exacted revenge at the end of relationships.But now there is another outlet for their painful experiences - The Museum of Broken Relationships.

At the exhibition in a former squat in Berlin, each item is exhibited with its story, leaving the identity of its owner anonymous but the emotions very much on display. A temporary space in Tacheles, a 1930s department store-turned-artists’ squat in former East Berlin, has become a donor centre for mementos of break-ups.

The public has been invited to drop off objects left over after flings, partnerships and marriages. The response has been overwhelming.

The 250 exhibits in the Museum of Broken Relationships in Berlin are ordinary items with poignant stories attached, such as a pen used to write the now bitterly regretted love letters or the bike a man left on, never to return.

The exhibition is the brainchild of Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic, two Croatian artists who split up after living together for four years.

One Berlin woman donated an axe she had used to reduce the furniture of her cheating female lover to matchsticks.

“I kept it as a therapeutic tool,” the woman says, describing how her departed girlfriend had returned two weeks later to pick up the furniture only to find it in a splintered pile on the floor.

A well-used prosthetic leg comes with the heart-rending tale of how its owner, a veteran of the Bosnian war, had met a beautiful social worker who helped him to obtain the false limb.

“The prosthesis endured longer than our love,” the accompanying note says.

The exhibition will move on to Belgrade in November, then the Macedonian capital Skopje in December and Stockholm in April.

Galleries in France, Italy and Japan have also expressed interest in hosting the exhibition.

Its creators hope the interest generated will help them to establish a permanent museum in Croatia. Source