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Stumbling in from Zagreb, Croatia, birthplace of zany museums — see also the Museum of Illusions and the Museum of Broken Relationships — comes the Museum of Hangovers, a multi-floor art installation exhibition of drunken self and community destruction.

Billing itself as an "unforgettable place of forgettable things", the Museum of Hangovers opened last week in the Ampire Building inside Rockbund, and features funny stories of blackout nights on the town, booze history and factoids, famous art inspired by the drunken pursuit of the muse, interactive multimedia gimmicks, a life-size statue of the porcelain god, and, naturally, a free drink with the 99rmb entry fee.

That's a nice touch.

Starting with the bar of course, guests are ferried through theme rooms dedicated to the different aspects of alcohol consumption, replete with sometimes edifying and sometimes baffling art inspired thereof. On the walls throughout the tour are real life drunken stories sourced from the original museum in Zagreb. These tend to trade in classic pissed up tropes: tales of property theft and destruction, tales of waking up in strange places, tales of waking up with strange people.

In one case, a nun.

The exhibition as a whole has a sort of Euro-tinged attitude of winking good humor regarding the activity of massive binge drinking. Perhaps elsewhere in the world these acts would be seen as signs of bigger problems on the part of their perpetrators. Europeans, though, roundly have a good sense of humor about getting tanked and getting into some silly shit out in public. It's a good quality. I've always felt that we as a species should be more celebratory of personal and civic drunken destruction.

So yeah. This is one for people who don't have a problem with some good and proper overindulgence.

See for example: the drunk driving simulator. Played for laughs. Disconcerting a bit!

It would be nice to see more Shanghai-related content in it. This city used to know how to fuckin' party, right! Hopefully they get lots of locals adding their own stories to the walls as they are being encouraged to do.

On the whole, the Museum of Hangovers is a pretty fun time. It's a larf — a variously amusing way to spend an hour or so. There's a bit of jank to it of course. It's very DIY in places. Like it was the result of a drunken conversation in a bar. And 'lo and behold the Museum of Hangovers ACTUALLY IS inspired by a drunken conversation in a bar. Perfect! The founder has his own story on the wall. The Zagreb-based visionary woke up one morning with a mystery bike pedal in his pocket and a dream.

Both are now on display at Rockbund in Shanghai.

***Googles "cheers" in Croata***

Zivjeli?

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Museum of Hangovers - Daily except Mondays, 10.30am until 7pm. Last entrance 6.30pm. Tickets are 99rmb per person,