A documentary screening at the University of Otago campus and a panel discussion featuring band members was to be held today.
However, a notice outside the Castle lecture complex said this had been cancelled "due to the events'' in Christchurch in the past 24 hours in which 49 people were killed at two mosques and scores injured.
The documentary was to have screened at 11am, and the panel discussion and question and answer sessions was to have begun about noon.
It was hoped to reschedule the activities "with input from Pussy Riot'' at a later stage. This could be later this year and potentially involve a video presentation by the band.
The band, which includes a raucous rock act, is scheduled to perform at Dunedin brewery New New New tomorrow evening.
New New New spokeswoman Dallas Synnott said Pussy Riot had a positive message, a performance would help bring the community together, and the occasion was also an important fund-raiser for the band.
She hoped the event would go ahead tomorrow as planned.
The feminist group has made headlines worldwide with its activism and anti-Vladimir Putin stance, which has led to members being jailed in the past.
An earlier Otago University event notice said the Otago department of media, film and communication studies was "delighted to host the ever-audacious Pussy Riot''.
Maria ("Masha'') Alyokhina was bringing the documentary Act & Punishment for an exclusive screening at the university.
The eight-member activist troop of punk rockers, video artists and actors would be on hand to discuss their commitment to art as protest and power.
Pussy Riot had "embraced the charge of political 'hooliganism' mocking authoritarianism and placing themselves at the fore of universal feminist and humanist struggles", the earlier notice read.
