Melbourne Fringe Festival
Melbourne Fringe
Enjoy all the Fringe benefits with Time Out’s guide
‘ OUT OF THE Echo Chamber’ is the overarching theme that Fringe’s creative director and CEO Simon Abrahams uses to describe this year’s festival, which is packed with more than 400 performances, exhibitions and events. “We are continually listening to people in our own Facebook feeds, and we’re curating the voices that we hear to an extent that we are becoming cushioned,” says Abrahams. “The provocation to the people of Melbourne is to get out of the echo chamber… to extend your thinking to hear the marginalised voices.”
Pivot
This participatory public art project by artists Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey will see sculptural seesaws pop up – and you’re invited to play. Each seesaw will connect two citizens in a guided conversation led by a built-in voice program. àfederation Square, Swanston & Flinders Sts, Melbourne 3000. Tue-sun noon5pm. Free. Sep 14-29. Chapel Off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St, Prahran 3181. Noon-5pm. Sun Oct 1.
Discordia
Hannah Fox, half of creative agency Supple Fox (behind the popular Dark Faux Mo parties), describes this new venture as “a layered installation”. Discordia will combine live performance, music, set and sound design to “take witnesses and participants through a near future world of utopian evolution, room by room, scene by scene.” Her seven collaborators include Gabi Barton (of burlesque duo Town Bikes) and dancer Holly Durant
(Finucane & Smith). àfairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne 3000. Various times. $39. Sep 27-Oct 1.
Fringe Wives Club
Blend outrageous costumes, hilarious songs, ridiculous dance moves and an empowering feminist message and you’ve got Glittery Clittery: a CONSENSUAL party. àlithuanian Club, 44 Errol St, North Melbourne 3051. TueSat 9.15pm; Sun 8.15pm. $20-$25. Sep 15-22.
Dis place
For the first time, Melbourne Fringe has teamed up with Ilbijerri Theatre Company to create Deadly Fringe: a series of works by emerging Indigenous artists. dis place is a response to the ongoing gentrification of Fitzroy, in which for one night only, Gertrude Street will be filled with a series of travelling live art per formances and installations. àmeet at the Koori Club, 43 Gertrude St, Fitzroy 3065. 6pm. $15. Fri Sep 22. www.melbournefringe.com.au.