The Blink festival starts next Thursday night but preparations are already underway. Towers for projection mapping have started going up Downtown and in Over-the-Rhine, and lights have been placed along the outside of Music Hall.
There will be more than 100 projection mapping displays, light sculptures, and new murals from Findlay Market south to Covington.
Returning for this year's Blink festival will be projection-mapping on Music Hall, and a drone show over the Ohio River.
New exhibits include laser mapping of the Tyler Davidson Fountain and the Fifth Third Building.
“You will see Fountain Square transformed into a playground of laser graffiti,” says Fifth-Third's Dan Mecher, “complete with larger-than-life spray paint cans, an immersive laser show, and a new mural focused on celebrating everything that the arts do for the region, created by local artists.”
Blink Co-Founder Andrew Salzbrun with AGAR says this will be the fifth festival and the secret to success is… everyone.
“We’ve got people from all over the world visiting us: artists, tourists, and everywhere in between,” he says. “We need you to show up. From a hospitable position, we need you to look out for each other. That is what makes this moment so special for our region. We do it better than anybody else.”
In another first, there will be a daytime component to Blink. It's an event called Cincinnati Art Week, which will run Oct. 3-10.
Organizers say it's designed to give visitors from outside the area something to do in the lead up to Blink, and during in the daytime ahead of the nighttime festivities.
“We are transforming empty storefronts into pop-up art galleries. There will be over 12 of them throughout the footprint,” Co-Founder Destinee Thomas says. “From Saturday to Saturday, from day into night, OTR will become a place to wander, discover art, and meet the people making it.”
Blink starts Thursday night, Oct. 8, with a street party outside TQL Stadium on Central Parkway. The winner of a children’s coloring contest will switch on the lights.
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