Museum of Personal Failure in Vancouver
The Museum of Personal Failure opened up recently, in a vacant retail space where my friend and I had our photo taken with Santa at Kingsgate Mall last year. Admission is free in this self-guided space which is filled with artifacts and ephemera from failed attempts, sad memories, rejections, mistakes, and broken pieces.
Museum of Personal Failure in Vancouver
Curator Eyvan Collins of Burnaby told the CBC that the idea for the Museum of Personal Failure originated when a relationship ended. “I felt like a failure. It was a heartbreak,” Collins said. “I just needed to do something with it — and this is what I did.”
In November, Failures Wanted posters were plastered around the neighbourhood, and submissions were collected and curated until January. “The Museum of Personal Failure is seeking submissions of artifacts – rejection letters, attempted repairs, abandoned art projects, ruined experiment – all manner of failure artifacts are welcome.”
Each display is accompanied by a typed description on yellow note card with details about the exhibitor, or the story behind the piece.
One of my favourites (given my line of work) is a screenshot of the domain registration for the museum which was purchased as “MusuemofPersonalFailure.com” along with accompanying texts between the organizer and their dad as they attempted to correct this typo.
There are discards from Lynn Valley Forge, a typewriter with ribbon yanked out of it, a physical scroll of job postings, and a tarantula, Rosie, in a jar labeled “Val’s Saltspring Blackberry Jam 2009” with a note beside it: Please do pick her up, but do not open (unless you must, and then you may). Each item has a story to tell.
You can visit the museum from now until February 3rd, at Kingsgate Mall (370 E Broadway) during mall hours.
It was painfully relatable, emotional, quirky, humorous, devastating, and full of personality. The Failure is a triumph of human spirit. 10/10 recommend.
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