CINCINNATI — Organizers of the celebrated art and light festival known as BLINK announced its second wave of artists working to transform 30 city blocks of greater Cincinnati into a bright, shining canvas in October.

The hand-selected group adds to a growing roster of local, domestic and global artists who specialize in a variety of media, ranging from murals and sculpture to light and digital projection.

Events begin Thursday, Oct. 13 with the BLINK Parade leading into three nights, Oct. 14-16, of murals and activations spread throughout downtown Cincinnati and Covington, Ky.

A building with a mural lit up with projection mapping during BLINK 2019. (Photo courtesy of City of Covington)

“The goal is to assemble one of the best collections of street art in the world,” said Andrew Salzbrun, BLINK’s executive creative director and a partner at creative firm Agar.

Since helping launch BLINK in 2017, Salzbrun has watched the festival grow into the largest events of its kinds in the United States. Organizers estimated a total attendance of 1.3 million in 2019.

The current “all-star roster,” as Salzbrun called it, has artists from around the world.

So far, there are 17 international artists or institutions from four continents. Those teams will spend the next two months working to complete pieces such as large-scale projection mapping, painted murals and interactive light sculptures.

Artists include the likes of Canadian contemporary painter Michelle Hoogveld, Spain-based duo PichiAvo and urban artist Andres Von Chrzanowski, also known as CASE Maclaim, who’s based out of Germany.

Plans already include roughly three dozen local artists or creative teams — and that number will only increase before October.

One of those local artists is Kyle Eli Ebersole, a BLINK veteran who’s bringing back a fan favorite installation, “Crescendo,” along with friend and creative partner Ian Molitors. The piece is an interactive light and music display featuring a standup Ebersole piano originally built in Cincinnati during the 1940s. The multi-sensory experience aims to invite musicians or curious onlookers to walk up and play it, Ebersole said.

The piece proved to be a hit in 2019, but Ebersole feels it will be even more impressive this year because they plan to expand it to allow for twice as many lights and upgrades to allow for more amplified sound. 

A photo of a person playing a piano as part of an art installation during BLINK 2019. (Photo courtesy of Kyle Eli Ebersole)

Ebersole is also involved in helping to highlight one of Cincinnati’s most prominent murals — “Mr. Dynamite” featuring music icon James Brown. With support from ArtWorks, lead artist Jenny Ustick created the mural at the corner of Main and Liberty streets to honor Cincinnati’s musical legacy, especially its connection to historic King Records.

“It will be an absolute joy to bring Jenny’s vibrant art to life through animation,” Ebersole said.

It’s too early in the process for Ustick to discuss the specifics of how they’ll animate her larger-than-life mural. But Ustick, who teaches at the University of Cincinnati, said she’d like to involve her students in the process.

“I’m excited,” Ustick said. “I can’t really say much more about it at this moment… but it’s going to be very exciting.”

BLINK has shown a commitment to support the region’s up-and-coming creative talent as well. There’s a new partnership with Miami University that has students from the school’s Emerging Technology in Business and Design Department creating a piece as part of their Immersive and Reactive Class this fall.

Other second wave artists announced include:

• Brooklyn-based art collective FAILE creates multimedia pieces featuring a fragmented style of appropriation and collage for more than two decades
• L’Amour Supreme reinterprets comic books, action figures and monster movie references for murals featuring hyper-pop imagery
• George Berlin and Greg D’Amico each plans to display work of  projection mapping on the front of a prominent Covington site
• Muralist Greg Mike creates works through his self-described surrealist pop art lens 
• Chroma Projects is a Central Virginia-based mural group focused on bold experiential designs

BLINK organizers plan to announce the third and final wave of artists in September.

Specific details about projects and designs aren’t yet available. But Salzbrun described this year’s show as the “biggest year yet,” with at least 17 murals, including a collection of new and existing murals concentrated in the Findlay Market area of Over-the-Rhine.

Every BLINK also includes a series of activations or “immersive takeovers” or under-used spaces or parks all over the urban core.

In 2019, for example, there was a discotheque-like laser show, complete with accompanying music, in an alley outside the Contemporary Arts Center on Walnut Street.

This year, viewers can walk through Emily Underwood’s “Florange,” which features more than 100 strings of hanging flower sculptures. A video projection will activate the sculptures to make them appear alive.

Inka Kendzia is returning to Cincinnati this year to give a new look to “Ad Pacem,” a mural she debuted in 2019 alongside fellow South African artist Faith XLVII. The work focuses on Eirene, the Greek goddess of peace. 

“We are creating opportunities for people to explore and see world-class public art right here in Cincinnati and really engage in conversation around it,” Salzbrun added.