The Museum that Exhibits Failure
This Article was written by Zanelle Awinyo, Year 9
You may have heard of 'The Louvre,' 'The National Museum of Art,' 'The Museum of Science,'... all great museums holding some of the world’s most famous artifacts. Because that’s what museums generally do; they preserve history, hold exhibitions that tell stories of great innovators, inventions and inspiring historical figures that made the world into what it is today; but what about the errors made along the way?
Did you know that Apple had launched it’s own Gaming Console? Or that Pringles once launched a ‘fat free’ flavour? You may have never even heard of them; and that’s because once companies have products that fail, they tend to simply pretend they never existed. However in Helsingborg, Sweden, the 'Museum of Failure' takes these products and puts
them on display so that everyone can learn from them (or at least 'admire' them.)
The Museum of Failure isn’t a permanent building, however it still holds great stories.
It is filled with a range of products, from Donald Trump’s own board game to Coke can packaging changes. At the moment, you can see a few of the products online, but
pre-Covid; it was open for 3-4 months.
Undoubtably, it changed the lives of many in that short period of time, whether it gave them a laugh or inspired them to start something they had hesitated with.
The Museum of Failure shows us that if we want to start something; we should just do it, without thinking of how it may go wrong- because at the end of the day, even big companies can make mistakes.
Failure grants us an opportunity to learn from our mistakes and try again. Our failures challenge our resilience and inspire us to try harder and approach problems differently, so don’t be afraid to fail. Just because you failed doesn’t mean you can’t try again. And who knows, maybe your creation would make it to the museum and inspire others to overcome their fear of failure.
