What is this?
A community project help people find LOVE
The premise is simple: nobody knows what format of dating actually works, and none works for everyone, s o we're going to try all of them. Every volume is a completely different structure. We've had friends pitch their single mates' lovability to a baying crowd. We've matched Gnostics, Thelemites and Kabbalists with ritual partners and soul companions. We've run bring-your-own turbo dates; handcuffed IKEA assembly, blind three-course meals in sixty seconds, pheromone sniff tests. Helped the alt-art scene find parenting partners. We've put the kids to bed and run a night purely for the 45-ish crowd. We've done shadow work, sorting hats and public confession to break the loops people keep dating inside.
If a format works, we learn from it. If it doesn't, we have a good time.
Different niches, different formats, same mission: real connection, witnessed by a room full of people who want it for you.
The Golden Rule
Anything goes; however strange, however intense, even if it looks suspiciously like torturing the attendees; as long as we truly believe it might help people find love.
That's the whole design philosophy, and it's also how the project runs as a community. Experimental Dating isn't programmed by one person with a clipboard. It's a community project: we bring people in to design and run pieces of each night based on what helped them find love; or what they watched work (or spectacularly fail) for their friends.
Trial Log
Seven volumes and counting, all at The Cube, Bristol.
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Vol 1 My Wingman and Me
Hypothesis: your friends know why you're lovable better than you do. Bring a friend as your dating Personal Assistant; they perform your lovability on stage in under five minutes (poetry, a tour of your VR habitat, a list of your YouTube subscriptions), then facilitate your introductions.
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Vol 2 Esoteric Dating
Gnostics, Thelemites, Rosicrucians and Kabbalists seeking soul companions and partners for ritual work; present your practice as an Adept, or connect quietly through the Seeker's Lens. Hosted by a panel of experts to help bridge the gap between worlds
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Vol 3 Wingman Revisé No2
The wingman format returns, refined into talk show format. Your single friends rest their gnarled little swiping fingers while you pitch their lovability to a baying crowd; with autumnal musical accompaniment.
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Vol 4 BREEDERFEST
For those who want the whole arc: nurturing, seduction, negotiation, compromise and the co-imagining of a shared future, with expert facilitators. INTENSE by design; a deep connection should be.
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Vol 5 BYO Turbo Dating
Not everyone shines at speed dating, so bring your own. Ideal dates distilled into intense micro-experiences: handcuffed IKEA assembly, blind three-course meals in 60 seconds, Speed Ceilidh, the Pheromone Sniff Test, the Patrick Swayze Ghost Pottery simulator.
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Vol 6 HOT MATURE SINGLES IN YOUR AREA
For everyone who found the normal audience TOO YOUNG. Bring a creative contribution; short films, poetry, antique discoveries, demonstrations of expertise; show us who you are, and let the room help find you love. With saxophonist and composer Kevin Figes.
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Vol 7 Fix-It-Yourself Date Night
A system designed to break your active loop. Shadow work, sorting exercises, group games, public confessions and encounters with strangers; aimed squarely at the repetitive patterns we keep dating inside. This time we focus not our attention on our attendees and why they can't keep a date
Get Involved
This is a community project, and the community is the method. If something helped you find love; or you watched it work for a friend; we want to build a trial around it. Pitch a format, run a segment, design a turbo date, or just show up single and hopeful.