Auckland Fringe 2013 officially launched today with a snazzy new look and website devised by design partner Special Group and the promise of three weeks of the bizarre, the beautiful and the baffling in February as “joystick orchestras, boy bands, Antarctic song cycles, cross dressing history celebrities and stories about dogs, Nazis and curry” vie for attention. And for all the creative types out there, festival sponsor Taxi Impact is offering you the chance to plaster one of its taxis with whatever wrap you want* as part of its Taxi Art Project.
As it says on the website: “Go kerrraaazzzeee! Make yourself famous, or a client, or your cat, or your mum. Make others laugh or cry, promote a good cause (or a bad one). Just make it original. Collage, hand-drawn, photographic, realistic, bizarre, nature, art, love letters, poems, QR codes, augmented reality or interactive, the choice is yours. Also, if you want, feel free to combine the whole taxi journey into the look and feel of the taxi. Make it a whole passenger experience.”
So download the templates, get creative, explain the idea, send it in and bask in the possibility of one month of artistic fame.
“The Fringe Taxi Art project has been put together to celebrate creativity and demonstrate how well our taxi medium can be used,” says Taxi Impact’s Tim Dove. ”It’s going to be a lot of fun and we can’t wait to see what the creatives of Auckland come up with. It’s pretty unique having your own taxi cruising around Auckland for a month.”
Fringe 2013 boasts 115 events across over 40 different venues Auckland wide, from the Parnell Baths and the Ponsonby Baptist Church to a tiny pop-up theatre and a fale’ on K’rd. 2013 has also seen an increase in artists touring nationally and internationally to participate in Auckland Fringe. Many adding Wellington and Dunedin Fringe to their tour as well. A new partnership with Melbourne Fringe saw the “Auckland Fringe Tiki Tour Ready” award presented at Melbourne’s award ceremony; to Cannonball, by Emily Taylor. This award will be reciprocated when Melbourne Fringe selects an Auckland Fringe artist to present in Melbourne next year.
And there’s even a bit of join the dots fun to be had on the programme, courtesy of International Rescue’s Kieran Rynhart.
*Well, nearly. See the entry conditions on the website.
