BLINK took over downtown Cincinnati and parts of Covington this weekend. The experience created an outdoor event with large-scale projection mapping, murals, and interactive light sculptures.
BLINK returned to Cincinnati for the first time since 2019 with a light parade kicking off the event on Thursday evening. The festivities took over downtown for four nights, Thursday through Sunday. The crowded streets were filled with people wanting to see and interact with the art.
The event was sectioned into 4 zones. The southernmost section was in Covington, KY with the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge connecting this zone to the zones on the Cincinnati side of the river. Along Sawyer Point and the Banks was The Banks Zone. The Downtown Zone covered from 3rd St. to Central Parkway. Over the Rhine Zone covered Washington Park, Music Hall and all the way across past Sycamore. The northernmost zone was the Findlay Market Zone encompassing a lot of the brewery area. There was live entertainment and food trucks throughout the zones with a roller skating rink set up on Court St.
Alleyology was probably my favorite but here are a few of the other art installations I enjoyed with details from the Blink website.
ALLEYOLOGY
by Lapis Laser
DETAILS
A supersensory experience using coherent light, mirrors, atmosphere particles and the vibration of air molecules.
THE MANIFOLD POTENTIAL - CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER
by Lightborne
DETAILS
A celebratory exploration of possibilities; how the alchemies of light, sound and time can be wielded to alter the perceived world, using the iconic CAC architecture as our inspiration and canvas. We’re drawn to the anamorphic potential of animated light colliding with the structure, augmenting the perceptions of viewers with a revelry of vibrant animations that explore the lines, surfaces and volumes of the building, letting the architectural forms lead us on a journey through the manifold variations hidden within.
TO THE MOON | AMERICAN BUILDING
by Sean Van Praag
DETAILS
The past couple years have been a struggle for many, but with those lows there were lots of unexpected highs. One of those highs popularized a simple phrase, "To The Moon".
It was a rally cry of blind optimism, a mentality and an absolute conviction that anything is possible. It brought people together, and in a very isolated and lonely time, made them feel part of something. These are the vibes I wanted to permeate through my artwork, enjoy!
STRING THEORY FOR DUMMIES
by Daniel Shields, Jamebo Corsini and Daniel Hiudt
DETAILS
Art doesn’t need to be so inaccessible. Museums have perfect specimens behind glass or in formaldehyde
But that preservation creates barriers between the people and the art which lessen their connection to the heartfelt trials and errors of creation. So, what about an art piece that is created by everyone? Don’t like what you see? Grab a ball of yarn and change it! Develop your string theory.
ENTWINED MEADOW
by Charles Gadeken
DETAILS
Entwined Meadow is an installation by Charles Gadeken. The exhibit brings the viewer to a whimsical land where visitors explore paths and sit under one of three metal sculpted trees.
The lighting effects are inspired by nature and build a sense of magic and wonder: sensations such as raindrops, lightning, thunderstorms, windblown grass and leaves, ripples on a pond are translated through color and duration.
IN THE MIDDLE - MEMORIAL HALL
by Antaless Visual Design
DETAILS
Reality or Illusion? Control or Randomness? The answer is in the middle.
At the base of every creative design, the artist finds himself having to decide which path to take for the realization of his work.
What if a choice is not necessary? What if the most fruitful way for the artist were to be found right in the middle of these parallel roads, if reality and control could instead intersect with illusion and chance?
This is what happens in dreams, where logical and surreal meet and "collide" continuously, showing us that one or more dimensions can exist and coexist.
On the architectural surface, visual art takes space from another space, employs materials, gives them shape and size, but does not build something tangible.
The goal is to demonstrate how the artist can be completely at the service of architecture and how this can suggest to him the composition of a work that is born in a completely casual but, at the same time, controlled way.
Through the use of lights and shadows, the expansion of time and space, the multiplication of objects, the application of physical/mathematical laws, the project appears as a continuous succession of ideas that pursue the logic of reasoning and at the same time the logic of the imagination.
BLINK IN THE BALLROOM - MUSIC HALL
Live music performed on the 1927 Mighty Wurlitzer Organ each night in the Music Hall Ballroom, accompanied by a colorful light show.
This botanical model was on display in the Music Hall Ballroom. Everything in this model is made with natural materials such as various seeds, eucalyptus leaves and pinecones. I found this absolutely intriguing as this is one of the areas of artwork I have been exploring recently.
PNEUHAUS
ABOUT
Pneuhaus is an interdisciplinary art and design studio that specializes in ephemeral art installations. Our immersive sculptures guide visitors into the universe of their senses. The design process deeply engages intrinsic qualities of materials to evolve forms that harmoniously express their physical and dynamic nature. Inspired by physics, biology, and craft, their studio's work incorporates the lessons of nature in both form and function.
KALEIDOSCOPE SPHERE - FOUNTAIN SQUARE
Comments