No one loves a love affair like the Mexicans. But the massive response to a recent public appeal, for the debris from broken relationships, suggests they may also be among the world champions at splitting up. Organisers of a museum received a shower of sad objects when they announced (in January) a special exhibition focusing on the death of love. The Show has just opened and runs until June 8 at MODO, a Mexico City Museum. MODO is named from a Spanish-language acronym, which means Museum of the Object of the Object. The Show was set up by the Zagreb-based Museum of Broken Relationships. More than 1,000 people contributed articles for the Exhibition. One woman sent in a half-burned wedding gown. It was not fully destroyed, because seconds after she set it on fire in a jealous rage at being jilted, she changed her mind and stamped the flames out. A man sent in a knife that he would use to prepare sushi at romantic dinners at his girlfriend's place; that is, until she sent it to him as a sign that she was cutting him off.
There was such an enthusiastic response from Mexicans - greater than in the other 30 cities where similar shows were set up globally - that after the third day the organisers had to ask the participants to change the method of submissions. MODO is a new venue inside a large 1909 Art Nouveau house run by young Art experts in an artsy district of the Mexican capital. "We asked people to donate objects representing a broken relationship. It did not have to be a love relationship or even a romantic one. It could be one that dealt with family ruptures also - like a communication breakdown between generations," MODO Director Paulina Newman told dpa. Every object is depicted with a write-up of its significance and the story of the breakup. In 2011, the Zagreb venture won the Kenneth Hudson prize, a European award honouring originality and innovative vision. The Museum has taken to travelling all over the world, to increase its collection. The Museum itself began with a break-up! When film producer Olinka Vistica and sculptor Drazen Grubisic ended their four-year love affair in 2003, they sadly joked that they would need a museum to keep all the mementos of their relationship. Grubisic did not forget the idea. A few years later he called his former girlfriend and suggested the idea of an exhibition on broken relationships. They contacted their friends also, for contributions. The first exhibit came in 2006 and finally, the Collection got a permanent home in Zagreb in 2010.
Sixty per cent of the objects donated in Mexico came from men. Young people made most of the contributions - this could be gleaned from the stories, since participants were not asked their ages. "Some stories are heart-wrenching and some a little light-hearted," Newman said. All exhibits are anonymous. The Museum does not reject any piece, unless it is offensive or discriminatory. The manager of MODO, Mariana Huerta, showed some of the Mexican-donated pieces at a Press preview. They included a polystyrene ball stuck with pins and coloured beads, a stuffed toy, a knife, two cardboard Pokemon figures and a woman's diary. The woman in question said that re-reading the story of her love affair (via the diary) had helped her recognise it as an ‘unhealthy relationship’ – and so she had ended it.
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