MK Fringe Festival, the city’s biennial arts event, is back this July!
Milton Keynes Fringe Festival, the city’s eagerly anticipated biennial arts event, is thrilled to announce its return for July 2025. This multi-platform showcase for emerging and established artists will present a vibrant programme of innovative and exciting exhibitions, performance, experimental sound, music, and installations.
Presented alongside the IF: Milton Keynes International Festival, MK Fringe promises an alternative, exciting cultural experience for audiences this July with a focus on all things local.
Milton Keynes Fringe Festival returns this year under the theme of Collaboration and so the organisers were “delighted to collaborate with The Parks Trust on two really amazing commissions”.
It is at the heart of Fringe values to uncover and celebrate the spaces and organisations which make Milton Keynes the unique city it is. The Parks Trust, one of the oldest organisations in the city, a charity responsible for so much of the incredible green space we have, couldn’t have fit the bill more perfectly.
This July there are two public realm works available to see in Campbell Park. Details of these artworks are below:
Artist Name: Richard Harrison
Artist Bio: Based in Milton Keynes, Richard makes work that draws on the history of modified car culture and the visual codes of British suburbia to explore how identity and community are communicated.
Title of work: Show Them Where To Go
Description of work:
Five bird boxes designed to reflect principles of automotive fabrication and aesthetics.
A series of five birdhouse sculptures installed as part of MK Fringe Festival 2025. Inspired by Machinedrum's track “Oracle,” the title—taken from the lyric “Show them Where To Go”—echoes both the song’s themes of beauty, movement, and shared experience. Out of context, the title refers to the idea of parenthood and teaching. Each birdhouse reflects principles of automotive fabrication—clean lines, fluid shapes, and subtle nods to car-body aesthetics—while drawing from organic, natural forms and the familiar vernacular of suburbia. Materials: Fabric, Epoxy Resin, PLA 3D Print, Cardboard, Expanding Foam, Spray Paint, Vinyl Decals.
Artist Name: Tendayi Vine
Artist Bio: Tendayi is an artist and researcher whose practice explores the material and immaterial territories of digital spaces. Working at the intersection of digital media and emerging technologies, outputs examine the human and non-human narratives embedded within these real and imagined terrains. Currently, Tendayi’s research looks at the ecological and colonial legacies shaping virtual habitats, and speculates on the role of power and culture as architects of our everyday landscapes.
Title of work: Arcadia Is In The Soil (2025)
Description of work: As contemporary experiences form landscapes that are both real and unreal, new interfaces between organic and artificial life continue to emerge. These images act as fragments of those evolving spaces, offering a vision of 'idyllic' as seen by the hybrid citizen.
Materials: Photography, AI softwares
Julie Dawes, Events and Community Engagement Manager at The Parks Trust says “We are really pleased to see these temporary artworks by emerging artists in Campbell Park as part of MK Festival Fringe this July. We hope visitors enjoy discovering these pieces alongside our permanent public art collection.” Head to theparkstrust.com to find out more about upcoming events across the city’s park spaces.
