A “Museum of Failure” is set to arrive in the UK later this year, showcasing some of the wackiest and most sinister products that have ever been envisioned.
The roaming exhibition has popped up in destinations such as Los Angeles, Shanghai and Budapest, and is now due to land in the UK.
“The main reason for opening in the UK is that you Brits totally get the museum's message. I don't need to explain it, Brits get it,” founder Dr Samuel West told The Independent. “They understand failure, and most can appreciate it and have a laugh at the same time.”
The exhibition showcases a collection of failed products and services from around the world, from axed car models and discontinued snacks to digital disasters, medical mishaps, and ideas that were left on the drawing board.
Some failed products that have made it to other cities include Heinz purple ketchup, Google Glass smartglasses, the 1985 reformulated New Coke, the Nokia N-Gage and the 1999 Rejuvenique facial mask that delivered mild electric shocks to the face for supposedly younger-looking skin.
While the failed ideas and products showcased at the museum do prompt laughter due to their ridiculousness, Mr West explains that they also signify how progress in innovation is made by learning from past mistakes.
“The aim of the museum is to destigmatise failure and help people appreciate the true value of failure in progress and innovation,” Dr West said.
“Everything that we call progress, tech, medical, ideological, social... it is all a result of a long process of trial and error. We as a society have huge problems to solve, and we need to reevaluate our relationship with failure to take the meaningful risks that need to be taken to explore and experiment with new ways of doing things.”
Other areas of the pop-up discuss darker failures, such as the use of the Orbitoclast lobotomy tool, which was hammered into the upper part of the eye socket, once thought to help psychiatric patients.
The museum’s latest exhibition focuses on the failures of artificial intelligence (AI); understanding where it goes wrong to develop it more safely and responsibly in the future.
The exhibition includes items such as the AI-powered Kumma Bear plushie, which was pulled from shelves after it was found to have the ability to give advice on BDSM sex and where to find knives.
In terms of Great British failures, the museum discusses the likes of the Titanic, the Sinclair C5 tricycle, the 2002 NHS digital patient record system and even Brexit.
The Museum of Failure is currently on display in Paris until 17 May, but is anticipated to pop up in the UK later this year, with no exact date or location currently set.
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