Preview: Speed Dating for the Brain at Spier’s Talking Heads 2022

Preview: Speed Dating for the Brain at the 2022 edition of Spier’s Talking Heads event – August 26-28

Spier Wine Estate is hosting the annual Talking Heads event on August 26 and 28, 2022. The theme for the 2022 edition: What you are about to hear could change the way you see things. Participants get to engage with Talking Heads – artists, thinkers, arts people, entrepreneurs and creatives from multiple spheres. Ticket holders receive a ticket showing a sequence of four random numbers, which directs the participant, to four different tables, hosted by a Talking Head. In a 20-minute session, the Talking Head engages with the theme, from “their own field of interest and personal vantage point.” Each table seats four – the Talking Head and three audience members. It is an opportunity for vigorous and intense dialogue and we need that in the aftermath of the pandemic, when many of us have become rusty in the art of conversation. On each of the two nights, there are 30 Talking Heads. One does not know which route one will get and that adds to the surprise element of the evening. Read on for more:

SPEED DATING FOR THE BRAIN AT SPIER’S TALKING HEADS EVENT

Ever wanted direct access to intriguing experts and creative thinkers who have forged unique personal paths? You could ask them questions, debate opinions and spark thoughts that might change the way you perceive the world. At Talking Heads at Spier Wine Farm you can fulfil that desire.

The annual event, hosted at the historical Stellenbosch Wine Farm, spans two evenings on August 26-27, 2022, and invites the curious seeker to engage with scintillating minds at the top of their respective fields. And there will be wine.

The theme of the event is: ‘What you are about to hear could change the way you see things.’ On each of the two nights, 30 experts – or Talking Heads – will share fresh perspectives with attendees and new lenses through which to see the world.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Audience members are randomly assigned to four different tables. At each table is a Talking Head, who has creatively prepared a 20-minute session that addresses the theme, based on their professional and personal vantage points.

Where will chance lead you? To Tapiwe Guzhe, the entrepreneur, philosopher and scientist who makes truly African ice cream? How about the infamous satirist Zapiro? Perhaps it will be the expert on all matters related to cannabis and psychedelics, Tony Budden, who co-founded the Hemporium. Or maybe it will be the sangoma, sociologist and activist, Lindy Dlamini.

Whether the Talking Head is an animal whisperer or a conspiracy theorist, an existential philosopher or a quantum physicist, the evening is a mystery left to the hands of fate. Expect an intimate and interactive session that stimulates conversation: like speed dating for the brain.

To recharge the brainwaves, there will be a half-hour refreshment break with a light dinner and Spier’s award-winning wines midway between the evening’s four sessions.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Event creator Brett Bailey, who is a playwright, artist, designer, play director, festival curator and art director, launched Talking Heads in 2008 as part of the Infecting The City festival in Cape Town. His ambition was to create a stimulating space for knowledge sharing and lively conversation, which will now be hosted annually at Spier.

“There are so many fascinating people in Cape Town, with diverse views and specialised interests,” Bailey says. “But the opportunity to talk with them directly, to get a real understanding of their perspectives, is rare. At Talking Heads you engage with four such folks, meeting other curious people in a cosy setting along the way, while your brain is gently fried.”

❇Sponsored content. Featured image: Valentina Leo who is one of the Talking Heads at the 2022 edition of Spier Wine Estate’s Talking Heads event, August 26 and 28, 2022. Image supplied.