BRinG bAcK ThE STaR FOunTAIn, a performance art re-creation of the "elusive, mysterious, almost-mythic" Star Fountain once located in the Octagon, is among nearly 80 events being held in the city from Thursday as part of this year’s Dunedin Fringe Festival.
Dunedin theatre practitioner and New Athenaeum Theatre general manager Ellie Swann said the former fixture in the Octagon had "almost become mythological" since it was taken down.
"It seems like even 30-odd years after it disappeared, everybody still misses it."
The fountain — which was built to mark the centenary of the Evening Star newspaper — was installed in the lower Octagon in the 1960s, but was removed in 1989 during the redevelopment of the area.
This week’s event was a free invitation to the public to pay homage to the water feature, re-creating it with the help of pumps, garden irrigation and pressure sprayers, a hose and a paddling pool.
"I’m so tempted to just pull up the pavers, and to see what’s under there."
As a child in the late 1980s, Ms Swann recalled sitting and watching the Star Fountain as a "huge part" of going into town on a Friday night.
It was an engaging and "distinctly Dunedin" installation, which was a source of nostalgia and fond memories for many.
"The water danced and the lights flashed, lit up, in time with the music.
"It was all this amazing feat of German engineering.
The Star Fountain had since gone on to symbolise how people engaged with the Dunedin City Council and its decision-making around public spaces, Ms Swann said.
"To me, it’s a symbol of every time someone wants to bemoan something about the council, they’ll say ‘bring back the Star Fountain’.
"But no-one ever questions what does that really mean? What do you want to see instead?
"Do you literally want to go back to the 1960s?"
BRinG bAcK ThE STaR FOunTAIn will be held in the Octagon on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
