The Museum of Failure to Arrive in the UK Featuring Notable British Missteps
The Museum of Failure, a travelling exhibition dedicated to showcasing missteps and failed innovations, is set to come to the UK. The collection includes UK-born exhibits such as the Titanic, Sinclair C5, the NHS IT programme, Dyson’s Zone, Amstrad, The Body Shop, and Brexit. Founder Dr Samuel West views Britain as the museum’s spiritual home, highlighting the British sense of humour and its cultural support for the underdog.
The exhibition aims to normalise failure and focus on learning lessons from risk-taking and collapse, rather than ridicule, with the goal of encouraging bold and meaningful risks that might solve major problems. Notable exhibits from around the world include the Apple Newton and Google Glass, and comparisons like Betamax versus VHS. The museum also notes that 42% of startups fail.
Psychologist Fiona Murden warns that framing failure too positively could be harmful and might diminish genuine frustrations, noting that cultural tolerance of failure varies between countries. The museum's reception has differed internationally, with varied responses in places like the Ivory Coast, China, South Korea, and the US. In Britain, the venue has not yet been confirmed but is expected to make intuitive sense.
Ben Strutt, who runs workshops on converting failure into strategic wins, visited the museum and believes it has the potential to shift how society discusses and perceives failure.
