Festival Launch

17 March, The Octagon, Dunedin, 12:00 noon

Join us in the Octagon to celebrate the official launch of the 2011 Dunedin Fringe Festival. Melbourne-based band The Barons of Tang, en route to WOMAD 2011, jump-start this year’s Festival with their unique brand of contemporary gypsy funk. See internationally renowned artist Erica Duthie and Struan Ashby complete part one of the tape-art installation Animae. Help yourself to some Fringe entertainmenton us!

Fringe Inventions

12 March – 3 April, Otago Settlers Museum, 10:00am-5:00pm

Opening: 5:30pm, 11 March
Fringe Inventions returns with another highly amusing exhibition featuring ingenious inventions that are so impractical or embarrassing to use that they are almost useless – except they work! Created by students, artists, academics and the odd mad inventor, these innovative products are designed without the constraints of commercial success in mind. Join us at the opening event for demonstrations by the inventors or enjoy at your leisure.

Still Life at the Station

19 March, Dunedin Railway Station/Otago Farmers’ Market, Anzac Ave, 9:00am-11:00 noon

Come see Dunedin’s famous landmarks, the Railway Station and the Otago Farmer’s Market, taken over by intriguing sculptures made out of human beings! Living monuments are a worldwide phenomenon requiring skill, determination and a steely gaze. Featuring, among others, Lord Livingstone by Chris Davis and Dunedin’s Highly Flammable – these statues are one of a kind.

Pick of the Fringe

18 March, University of Otgo, 12 noon, Free

19 March, Railway Station, 11am, Free

20-26 March, The Octagon, 12 noon, Free

Bring your lunch and your workmates down to the Ltd Festival Kiosk and enjoy a tasty snack of Fringe fare. Pick of the Fringe presents free performances by Festival artists complemented by daily giveaways to Festival shows. Come early, come often! 

Pecha Kucha Night #9

20 March, Glenroy Auditorium, 7:30pm, $10/$8

Devised in Tokyo this unique event has developed into a global network incorporating 380 cities from New York to Nuremberg. Artists and designers each show 20 images projected onto a large screen with each image displayed for just 20 seconds and once started there is no stopping! The diversity of presenters, the quick-fire format, the stories behind the images, the people you meet on the night, all come together to make this a captivating event not to be missed.

Photo credit: Benjamin Julve

Festival Awards

27 March, Bennu Restaurant, 7:00pm, $5

Celebrate the end of the Festival in style with New Zealand’s original ukulele band – the Big Muffin Serious Band. All the way from the swamps of the Waikato, the Big Muffins have been turning rock standards upside down and pumping life back into musical oddities for decades. Their unique brand of musical humour will be a fitting finale as we honour the artists who have made an outstanding contribution to the 2011 Festival.