Six ways art can help you find a soulmate

Image: via Berlin Art-Parasites artist unknown

Love and art have a lot in common. Art is an avenue to be daring with ideas, to experiment, to collaborate and to challenge perceptions. Finding love also requires you to be daring, step outside your comfort zone and a relationship is often considered a collaboration.

There’s no shortage of art lovers either: 94 percent of Australians ​read, attend events or listen to music so collectively we love art. But can sharing our art interests help us find love?

For those craving a little more creativity in their dating lives, the arts offers plenty of options. From The Kiss by Auguste Rodin, to pages of romantic prose that set hearts alight, the arts is a natural home to feelings of lust and desire, so it makes sense that people are turning off Tinder to let their hearts collide in the company of the Greats – at least for an afternoon.

We look at six ways creative singles can be a bolder in their search for new friendships, platonic or otherwise.

1. Scissors and glue to the ready

Upon attending a recent Craft Singles night hosted by Work-Shop, it was clear that art – in this case craft –  is the great leveller for people who might otherwise be put off by the idea of speed dating. The promise of beer, pizza, and a trip down memory lane with an assortment of cut and paste craft activities provided a safety net that is arguably essential when talking to complete strangers in quick succession – if all else failed, you could convince yourself you just came for the craft.

The evening was full of feeble attempts to construct sculptures out of dry spaghetti and marshmallows, compose poetry in pairs and make cheesy valentine cards. A relaxed, playful atmosphere meant that any nerves quickly dissipated, replaced by a roar of flirtatious banter.

It’s not just crafters that get all the fun. Last year, the Wheeler Centre’s Literary Speed Dating proved so popular they announced a second night where fans of fiction could bring their most loved, loathed or recent literary purchase and discuss it with possible partners of the opposite or same sex. 

Melbourne International Film Festival also hosts speed dating for filmbuffs. Be it film, literature, or even craft, what makes arty speed dating attractive is having an automatic conversation starter and an automatic tick under the ‘shared interest’ box.