See the Cool Light Installations and Murals from This Outdoor Art Fest

Find out how BLINK used the city of Cincinnati as its canvas.

October 24, 2022

Muralist Jenny Ustick and motion designer Sean Hafer—both University of Cincinnati art professors—created a piece titled Sister City. It depicts a Ukrainian woman wearing traditional clothing, including a flower headdress. The mural was a collaboration between the Cincinnati-Kharkiv Sister City partnership and cincy4ukraine.Photo: Courtesy of BLINK

CINCINNATI—BLINK, the largest immersive light and art event in the U.S., returned to Cincinnati, Ohio for the first time since 2019. Spanning 30 blocks into Northern Kentucky, the four-day, free event—which took place Oct. 13-16—featured 39 large-scale projection mappings, 16 new murals, interactive light sculptures, more than 80 bands, and entertainment from both local and international artists.

Produced and curated by three executive partners—the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, AGAR, and the Haile Foundation—and produced in conjunction with ArtWorks, Cincy Nice, and ish, the biennial event provided opportunities for regional artists as well as global creators. It’s funded through ArtsWave, which supports 150 cultural organizations and projects like BLINK each year. And global production solutions company PRG (Production Resource Group) returned as the event’s technical partner.

Referring to Cincinnati’s initiative to reinvest in the community, Andrew Salzbrun, managing partner of experiential agency AGAR and co-founder and executive creative director of BLINK, said: "We're grateful and humbled by the public that showed up for what was a historic event. As BLINK strives toward our shared vision for a future city, it takes an incredible team to run after that vision."

According to organizers, in 2019, BLINK had an economic impact of $86.7 million dollars to the area. This year, the third iteration of the artsy affair experienced record-breaking attendance, with 2 million-plus people attending over four days. The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber projects an economic impact of more than $100 million thanks to this year's event, although exact figures have yet to be released.

BLINK is typically planned and executed on a two-year cycle due to long lead times with fundraising, curation, and logistics. But for the 2022 event, the added element of a global pandemic meant that organizers had a mere 11 months to bring it all together. To make it happen, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber along with the event partners worked in close collaboration with both the cities of Cincinnati and Covington, Ky., which is located just across the Ohio River.

This year, organizers stretched the festival’s footprint in all directions to provide an incentive for people to explore more of the Tier 4 city. BLINK split photo ops, installations, and artistic murals into five zones, stretching roughly 3.5 miles. But the expansion was seen as a drawback by some, with festivalgoers taking to social media to complain that the installations were too spread out. On an Instagram post from the official BLINK account, an attendee commented that the event was "too big. Too spread out. Too crowded. Too diluted. Lotta food and drink. Not a lotta creativity."

Also new this year, the event featured a drone show, in partnership with Sky Elements Drone Shows, at Smale Riverfront Park. It included 300 drones during a 10-minute show that displayed 3D imagery, animations, and lighting.

Missed it this year? Not to fret, as we've rounded up highlights from this year's BLINK event, and caught rumblings of a 2024 iteration already in the works. Scroll to see more...

Portuguese visual artist and illustrator Add Fuel’s mural was inspired by Cincinnati-based Rookwood Pottery & Tile, which has served the city for more than 140 years.

Photo: Courtesy of BLINK

To the Moon by Sean Van Praag was projected onto the American Building in the Over-the-Rhine district of Cincinnati.

Photo: Courtesy of BLINK

In Hanna Park—the northernmost point of the BLINK festival—artists Matt Dayler and Danny Gamble created a mural that transformed the park into a colorful urban oasis.

Photo: Courtesy of BLINK

In the Middle by Antaless Visual Design was projected on the Mother of God church in Covington, Ky.

Photo: Courtesy of BLINK

Muralist Jenny Ustick and motion designer Sean Hafer—both University of Cincinnati art professors—created a piece titled Sister City. It depicts a Ukrainian woman wearing traditional clothing, including a flower headdress. The mural was a collaboration between the Cincinnati-Kharkiv Sister City partnership and cincy4ukraine.

Photo: Courtesy of BLINK

Known for her large-scale, black-and-white line drawings, Shantell Martin used a similar design for her BLINK piece, Danke, which means “thank you” in German. She described Danke as an homage to Cincinnati’s German heritage.

Photo: Courtesy of BLINK

“Parastella” was a 20-foot diameter disc of LEDs in a radial pattern. As classical music played during the fest, patterns chosen for each section of each musical piece appeared on the LEDs.

Photo: Courtesy of BLINK

Fifth Third Bank offset the carbon emissions from the festival’s lighting installations through an Ohio-based carbon reduction project. The bank also offset its own BLINK installation, which featured 24 solar panels and a radiant sun with RECs (renewable energy certificates), thanks to its solar power purchase agreement project.

Photo: Courtesy of BLINK

BLINK showcased multidisciplinary artist Tristan Eaton’s mural, which is the largest of its kind in Ohio, occupying an estimated 17,000-square-foot mural space at the site of 84.51's headquarters.

Photo: Courtesy of BLINK