Now this is a unique speed date.
Credit: Josh Aronson - Photo Book Speed Date
Your favorite coffee table book could be your ticket to meeting a dozen new people Sunday. And, phew, no awkward pickup lines are required.
Miami-based photographer Josh Aronson is bringing Photo Book Speed Date to NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, September 27, from 2 to 5 p.m. The free gathering invites guests to bring a photo book, art book or coffee table book they love, then share it with someone new in a series of timed, one-on-one conversations.
Here’s how it works, y’all. Take a seat across from a fellow book lover, swap books and spend about 10 minutes flipping through the pages. Then move on to the next person and the next stack of images. Bring something you made, bought or received as a gift; a backstory gives you an easy opening question. You don’t need to be a photographer, curator or expert on anything.
“It’s focused on the joy of sharing your favorite art book with somebody else and getting to see their favorite art book,” Aronson told Browardist.
The Fort Lauderdale gathering will be the 10th edition of an idea Aronson dreamed up for his own Miami gallery exhibition in 2022. Rather than host an artist talk where he did all the talking, he wanted visitors to share their own stories. Since then, the event has visited venues including Pérez Art Museum Miami, SFMOMA in San Francisco, ARTS Southeast in Savannah and CONTACT Photo in Toronto. Aronson’s event site says the first nine editions welcomed over 950 photo book enthusiasts.
Aronson grew up in North Miami, attended high school in Broward and now lives back in North Miami. His photography has appeared in The New Yorker and The New York Times. At a San Francisco edition, he recalls meeting an artist who brought a handmade book of his own photographs, complete with pop-outs and fold-outs. Guests got to discover the work while hearing about it from its maker.
And although the event carries no romantic expectations, Aronson admits to one plot twist... he met his girlfriend through Photo Book Speed Date.
Sunday’s gathering also offers a reason to see Close to Home, the NSU exhibition featuring Aronson and other South Florida artists before it closes October 4. Aronson says guests attending Photo Book Speed Date can enter the museum for free and explore the show. More than 150 people had RSVP’d when he spoke with Browardist.
“As long as the room has people excited about nerding out over their favorite art and photography, I’ll be super happy,” he says.
Admission is free. Bring a book and RSVP for Photo Book Speed Date here.
