Stadium stands up to riot of colour

Forsyth Barr Stadium chief executive David Davies and Dunedin Fringe Festival director Paul Smith...
Forsyth Barr Stadium chief executive David Davies and Dunedin Fringe Festival director Paul Smith create a splash at the stadium yesterday. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Work started on painting Otago's $200 million Forsyth Barr Stadium yesterday. And, surprisingly, red and black were the most popular colour choices for the new home of Otago rugby.

Stadium chief executive David Davies was particularly enthusiastic about red and black paint, during a colourful, and unconventional, paint-bombing test on the stadium fence.

"This is the most enjoyable 10 minutes I've had in a long time," Mr Davies grinned. "It's very carthartic. It's a good way to work the stress out."

The paint-bombing was an experiment ahead of the 2010 Dunedin Fringe Festival, festival director Paul Smith said.

The Fringe will be launched in the Octagon next Thursday, when people involved in the Dunedin art community will create a 3.6m by 2.4m artwork by peppering a canvas with the paint balloons.

"We wanted to test out the paint bombs first, to make sure that they would work properly," Mr Smith said.

The paint bombs were made by injecting paint into water balloons with a horse syringe. And, on a day of colour, there was also some inevitable red tape to deal with.

"We had to sign a resource consent to come here and do this."

Mr Davies said he was looking forward to his first Dunedin Fringe Festival, which starts next Thursday.

"Comedy has always kept me engrossed, so I'll definitely be there."

The 2010 Dunedin Fringe Festival runs from March 18 to 28.

 

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