Connect with my Loss: The Museum of Broken Relationships as an Empathetic Institution

This paper was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Museum Studies.As contemporary museums increasingly desire to add empathetic dimensions to their exhibits and receive the benefits of relating with their audiences, there is an assumption that it is the content itself that triggers an empathetic response. While this is often the case, empathy also occurs between audiences and museums as much as between audiences and content. This is because empathy is a response centered on relationships. This paper examines one such museum that exemplifies this: The Museum of Broken Relationships. By collapsing the distinction between collection and exhibition, visitor and artist, the MoBR encourages a sense of empowerment and expression rarely possible in traditional museum environments. This is made possible through a participatory process that treats members of the public as partners whose contributions are as culturally significant as typical museum objects. Though their exact practices may not be feasible for all museums, the MoBR’s method of collecting and exhibiting diverse personal stories symbolized by objects invites us as museum professionals to think about what collections and exhibitions can be. If we believe that anything can be transformative through the power of a museum, we should recognize that empathy is not something we create within our publics, but something we experience with them