Art for heart's sake

Date nights at the museum. Singles mixers at galleries. The art world is helping couples make a connection. Is a meet-cute just an exhibition away?

- Riddhi Doshi

It's a meet-cute even Nancy Meyers couldn't have dreamed up. Local man, fed up of the shallow pickings on Tinder, heads to the museum to enjoy their latest exhibition in peace. Meanwhile, local woman, out with her girl gang, is there too. Their eyes don't meet. Instead, both of them are transfixed by a single canvas. They're both drawn to the same exhibits in the gallery. And, hello, they've both signed up for the 5pm watercolors workshop. By sunset, they've painted their hearts out, been intellectually stimulated and vulnerable in a way few people are with strangers. It's a match made in paint.

Can the art world really play Cupid? There are dates aplenty at Mumbai's popular Art Night Thursday events, when galleries stay open late and when art-walk groups mingle at a show opening over wine and snacks. Young people thronged the recent Pop: Fame, Love, Power show at Mumbai's Nita Ambani Cultural Centre. The polarising exhibition had plenty for strangers to rant or bond over. "OMG! Is the Keith Haring drawing on your Tshirt the same one as in the show?" "Why is walking through a room full of helium-filled silver pillows considered art?"