Museum of Failure - 13th October 2023

Johanna Guttmann has put on an art exhibition called the Museum of Failure in Washington DC. The Museum of Failure intends to start conversations about the importance of failure.

Johanna Guttmann: "The products that we are saying that they are failures are subjective, debatable, but it is about that conversation. So we are sort of having fun with it, we want to take away the stigma from it. So I think the fun factor makes it much more attractive to people."

The Museum of Failure exhibition first opened in 2017 in Sweden. It displays the failed products and inventions of successful companies from around the world, but mainly from the US.

Some of the big names include Starbucks and Oreo. Starbucks attempted to sell coffee mixed with olive oil, which upset customers’ tummies. One Trump themed Monopoly board game resulted in low sales, as it was too complex. Meanwhile, Oreo’s unusual new flavours turned customers off.

Johanna Guttmann: "I’ve heard that one of the most disgusting things, not featured here, is the barbecue chicken wings - it’s rather vile."

Guttmann intends to use the exhibition as a tool to inspire open conversation. She feels that people hide their failures due to shame.

Johanna Guttmann: "The goal of the exhibition is the conversation about failure, and destigmatizing failure and to a certain extent, embracing it and understanding that it is a very important component if we want to innovate and solve big problems in the world, we're going to have to take some risks and try different things."

At the exhibition, visitors are asked to share their experience with failure. They can write notes and leave them on a board for others to read. However, many people feel ashamed about their failure. Guttmann blames this fear on social media.

Johanna Guttmann: "Today with social media, I believe that it's harder to fail. I think that people feel their failures are sort of amplified on social media. And it sort of follows you and it seems maybe larger than it actually is."