A new exhibition at the Tristan Bates Theatre explores the concept of failed relationships and their ruins through an eclectic collection of love tokens from around the world.
A garden gnome. A mobile phone. A ceramic baking bowl for making bread. On their own the tokens of relationships past are devoid of meaning, significant only to the couples who once cherished them. Put them and their story into the aptly named ‘Museum of Broken Relationships’ however, and these seemingly disparate mementos assume an extraordinary power to intrigue, amuse and disturb.
Take the Divorce Day Mad Dwarf for example: one former couple’s eerie garden gnome that became a marital missile when their relationship hit rocky ground. “It was a long loop, drawing an arc of time” writes Ljubljana, the divorcee behind the dwarf’s untimely demise, “and this short long arc defined the end of love.” That this end was a bitter one is clear enough from the dwarf’s face: his nose and ears are missing and his forehead is splitting. Yet while most of us can recall a relationship in which such violence was, if not actually executed then at least vividly imagined, The Museum of Broken Relationships is collective proof that there is more to a break up than vengeance.
A lovingly handcrafted casket topped with an old photo pays tribute to a 25-year long marriage that left Jelka with “two sons, a lot of memories and this box”. A fluorescent pair of boxers are there, alongside the label – “A size too small… but I didn’t mind at all”.
Established in Croatia a year ago by designer and artist Drazen Grubisic and film producer Olinka Vistica – themselves former partners – the Museum of Broken Relationships was born when the couple came to discuss splitting their possessions.
“It’s easy to decide about stereos, and televisions,” says Grubisic. “But what about these tokens?”
“And the memories they represent,” adds Vistica, “how do you protect them from oblivion?”
So began their project to put on display not just their own token – a small white wind-up rabbit – but those of hundreds of different relationships, from all over the globe. Each stop of the tour yields new discoveries, as they set out gather new donations from the local area. Now it’s London’s turn to reveal all, as the exhibition sets sail for the UK for the first time.
Applications for donations to Covent Garden’s version of the exhibition (to be held in Tristan Bates Theatre and other spots round Seven Dials) are already open and waiting to receive your tales and tokens of woe. As past examples show they can be almost anything, from wedding dresses right through to a handful of soil (yes, someone really did submit dirt as a keepsake). All that matters is their story and the memories they represent – both to you and to the collective human experience of loving and losing. (although, if you do want to wash your ex’s dirty linen in public, we won’t stop you.)
Tags: Art, Covent Garden, Relationships, Seven Dials, Tristam Bates Theatre