This story originally appeared in our Sept. 30 – Oct. 13, 2026 print edition. Check out the edition online here and find where you can get a print edition near you here.
BLINK would be nothing without the work of the countless Cincinnatians who have participated in the festival throughout the years.
As part of our cover issue on BLINK, here is part two of our Q&A’s with several different artists from this year’s festival sharing how they’re helping to light up the Queen City. You can read part one by clicking here.
CHASKE HAVERKOS
– Where will your installation be located? Corner of Sixth and Vine Streets near Fountain Square, the old Terrace Plaza Hotel building.
– Briefly describe your installation. My temporary installation is titled ‘The Cube,’ and is a 5-minute projection-mapped audio/visual experience. The animated piece features vibrant colors, fluid animations, and unique perspectives set to a driving soundtrack that aims to take the audience on a visual journey exploring both the outside, and inside, of the massive corner site.
– How many people were involved? Three. I created all of the visuals and animation, and the soundtrack was created by two longtime musician collaborators of mine, Ann Driscoll and Adam Pleiman, with the local Play Audio Agency. This will be our fourth time working on a soundtrack for a Blink piece of mine together.
– Describe the construction process. My process always begins with the site, the blank canvas, and the unique opportunities it presents. This specific corner site for Blink 2026 is incredibly exciting and I’m energized by the potential created by the perspective and sheer scale of the building. A narrative can take on many forms and, with this piece, it is a story told through motion, color, form, and space with an original soundtrack as the engine. The immense size of the unencumbered walls, in combination with the dimensionality, has inspired my work and I’ve enjoyed exploring the spatial and volumetric opportunities this unique site offers.
– What is the inspiration for your piece? For this piece, I was inspired by the unique opportunity of having not one, but two walls, and the ability to utilize that interplay between the walls and the space that it forms. I felt using the cube as a volume to fill, a box to house, and a form with surfaces, all offered exciting and infinite potentials. My mission for the piece was consistent: create a beautifully engaging and stimulating piece of immersive projection mapped animation that embraces the building; to create an audio visual experience that is uniquely Blink.
– How important is it to you, as a local artist, to be involved in a massive international art festival like BLINK? It’s incredibly important to me both personally and professionally. It’s one of my biggest goals when the open-call begins and one of the festivals that means the most to me, especially being from Cincinnati, but mainly because it is top-notch. Blink is where I first projection-mapped, it’s where I got my start doing the projection work that I’ve become so passionate about. It’s become a measuring-stick, to me, as it’s grown and I take immense pride in always trying to get better, learn more, and expand my skills, so that I can continue to be part of it into the future.
ASHA AMA BIAS-DANIELS
– Where will your installation be located? Black Music Walk of Fame.
– Briefly describe your installation. “Voyage to Atlantis” is a temporary installation and an immersive fashion, music, and light experience that merges couture fashion, technology, music, and visual storytelling. The experience will transform the Walk of Fame into a fashion-forward environment featuring ASHA AMA couture collection & immersive runway show, a chance for guests to explore the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame, and live performances that celebrate Cincinnati’s rich Black musical legacy. The experience will also highlight emerging young designers from my mentorship program, including Makeda Zy’Ann, Diabou Fall, Fashionista Franklin, Makémé Sangaré, and Maddy Love, giving the next generation of Cincinnati creatives a platform alongside established artists.
– How many people were involved? The installation is being developed through a collaborative creative and production team led by ASHA AMA, featuring a group of young mentee designers (Makeda Zy’Ann, Diabou Fall, Fashionista Franklin, Makémé Sangaré, and Maddy Love), music artists Mic. Carr & Shades, Turich Benjy, Cleöcrt & more.
– Describe the construction process. The installation will incorporate a fashion runway/stage environment, lighting, electrical and technical components, backstage support, and guest-facing areas. Depending on the final site configuration, the installation may include a stage and backdrop to conceal backstage areas, a green room for models and the creative team, audience seating, and custom lighting designed to support the fashion presentation.
– What is the inspiration for your piece? Voyage to Atlantis is inspired by the intersection of Black music, fashion, futurism, and technology, with the Isley Brothers serving as an important creative influence. The collection explores ideas of movement, transformation, and an imagined futuristic world through reflective, metallic, holographic, crystal-embellished, and illuminated materials. A major part of the experience is also honoring the legacy of Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame inductees, including artists such as The Isley Brothers and Penny Ford, while connecting their musical legacy to a new generation of artists, designers, and audiences.
– How important is it to you, as a local artist, to be involved in a massive international art festival like BLINK? As a Cincinnati-born artist living in New York, I have built a career taking fashion into spaces where it intersects with art, music, and culture. BLINK provides an extraordinary opportunity to bring that vision home. Cincinnati has played an important role in my artistic journey, and I am excited to contribute to a festival that brings international attention to our city. I especially love that this opportunity allows me to celebrate Cincinnati’s Black cultural legacy while simultaneously creating a platform for emerging local designers and creatives.
– Is there anything else you want Cincinnatians to know about you and your work? I want Cincinnatians to know that fashion, for me, has always been about much more than clothing. It is a reminder of who we are, where we come from, and a way to manifest our highest selves & furtures. I strive to create experiences that challenge people to see fashion differently while creating opportunities for other creatives to grow. Voyage to Atlantis is an extension of that mission—bringing together fashion, music, technology, emerging talent, and Cincinnati’s incredible cultural history in one immersive experience. I am incredibly proud to bring this vision to my hometown and to share it with the city during BLINK 2026. I am grateful to the amazing people that make BLINK happen: the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, AGAR, the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame, & Alicia Reece for all of the support to bring such a massive project to life.
KATIE DAVIS
– Where will your installation be located? Corner of Elm & Green Street, near Findlay Market.
– Briefly describe your installation. inCANdescent is a temporary installation made from over 1,750 reclaimed paint cans collected over the past decade through community efforts and constructed with the help of dozens of local volunteers. Assembled, the cans interlock to form a structural cylinder of mesmerizing color, movement, and light. Surrounding the main hub of inCANdescent are concentric circles of seating and greenery– effectively transforming a gravel parking lot into a pop-up park. As an environmental organization, Keep Cincinnati Beautiful (KCB) is committed to reducing its environmental impact by reusing materials whenever possible. By transforming what might be considered waste into public art, we invite viewers to reflect on consumption in our society and redefine their understanding of what is considered Art.
– How many people were involved? It takes a village! Our Arts team (myself [Katie Davis], Claire Bryson, and Kennedy Cantrell) have led the ideation and construction of inCANdescent, but much of the work has been completed with the help of dozens of volunteers.
– Describe the construction process. Gallon-sized paint cans are single use and non-recyclable. We have saved the paint cans from our public art projects for over a decade, and discovered that as a repetitive unit paint cans will nest together as a natural curve, creating a visual fabric not unlike a beehive. The empty cans each have a hole drilled in the bottom which is filled with a programmable LED bulb. The handles are removed and this is used as a connection point. The cans are simply zip tied together and stacked, forming a solid structure.
– What is the inspiration for your piece? At Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, everything we do comes back to community and caring for our shared public spaces. BLINK is such an incredible opportunity not only to highlight sources of Cincinnati pride, but also to shine a light on spaces that are often overlooked. Our favorite BLINK installations are the ones that are tucked away as surprises during the hustle and bustle of the festival. This October we will transform a vacant lot into a pop-up park, complete with greenery and (of course) light art. We hope that inCANdescent will serve as a moment of discovery and reflection for its visitors. We are delighted and honored to represent a small part of Cincinnati’s broad and diverse community of artists and community nonprofits. Cincinnati is a city that embraces art in all its forms, and we are so excited to see her shine in a few weeks. Come for the big international names and stay to discover and support artists in your local community!
NAPOLEON MADDOX
– Where will your installation be located? Corner of Race & Third Street.
– Briefly describe your installation. The title of my installation is “I Am a Submarine For My Dreams.” It explores an imaginary world between 2 rivers; the Doubs in Besançon, France and the Ohio River in Cincinnati. In between the 2 rivers, I encounter creatures, explore possibilities and rediscover myself. Courageously, I’m embarking on a voyage, bringing my history along with me into this underwater dream. This installation will be accompanied by 3 brand new songs from the upcoming album “1968” by Sorg & Napoleon Maddox.
– How many people were involved? Myself, Napoleon Maddox: conception, painting, collage, writing & vocal performance / recording. Robin Perrey: animation & mapping. Sorg: composition & music production. Antoine Saba: photography.
– Describe the construction process. Apart from the process of writing and composing the songs, the construction of this installation was based on me repurposing French bread paper. I hot ironed, cut, collaged, painted and sculpted the paper creatures. Then Antoine Saba made photographs of each individual creature. I sent these photographs to Robin Perrey, along with the 3 songs and the lyrics to the songs. These songs tell intimate stories about the underwater dream world, self discovery, questioning and growth. Robin animated the marine animals, water and text to correspond with my lyrics as the songs play, to ascend the side of the building during BLINK.
– What is the inspiration for your piece? My inspiration for this piece was the time I’ve spent away from home, in a new country, in a new city. Everyday I had to become reacquainted with who I am, or who I thought I was. Although I was far from home (Cincinnati), I realized with time that I was building and growing into a new person. In order to reach my dreams, I would naturally stay connected to who I am, but I had to be willing to face the unknown. The rivers that pass through my old city and my new city became a metaphor for my dreams, my growth and my future.
– How important is it to you, as a local artist, to be involved in a massive international art festival like BLINK? It is an honor to be a featured artist in BLINK, even more so as I have to pleasure of working with Nouvelles Formes in Besançon, France to present a French version of the installation we are premiering at BLINK.
– Is there anything else you want Cincinnatians to know about you and your work? I want Cincinnatians to know that I am grateful to represent our city abroad, and I’m grateful to have the chance to continue to build bridges between creatives and communities globally. Whether it’s through the guests we bring to the UnderWorld Black Arts Festival, or artists we take on international tours with ISWHAT?!, or recording projects with Sorg, or the amazing opportunity to expand our global community, or being featured at BLINK, collaboration and community are central to my work. And this all began with my formative years in Cincinnati.
JESSICA WOLF
– Where will your installation be located? 7th Street in Covington, in front of Braxton Brewery.
– Briefly describe your installation. Lumifolia is a large-scale illuminated geodesic dome filled with more than a thousand translucent, leaf-like forms. RGB lighting mounted along the dome’s frame shines down through the leaves, filtering and diffusing through the translucent material much like sunlight passing through a canopy of real leaves. The colors shift through a compressed 24-hour sky cycle, moving through the colors and moods of an entire day in just a few minutes. Visitors will be able to enter the dome and feel enveloped in a canopy of luminous trees. It’s a moment of serenity in an otherwise busy and bright event.
– How many people were involved? The piece is being created primarily by me, with studio help from friends and family. The awesome folks at Kemper Sauce Studios are doing their magic to bring the light animation to life. AGAR has been wonderful in helping lay the foundation for the engineering and permitting.
– Describe the construction process. The geodesic dome provides the framework, with approximately 1,500 individual leaf forms suspended above visitors to create the illusion of a living, glowing environment. The leaves are made from lightweight, translucent polycarbonate. Each piece is assembled by hand and attached to the structure in cascading strands, creating layers that catch and filter the light. Lighting mounted along the dome frame shines down through the leaves, allowing the material to soften and transform the light in much the same way a natural canopy filters sunlight. Breezes will provide a kinetic element to the experience, causing the strands to gently drift and sway.
– What is the inspiration for your piece? I’m interested in creating environments that make people slow down, look up, and experience a little bit of awe. Lumifolia started with the idea of bringing the feeling of a living, changing sky into an unexpected city space. The first spark of inspiration came from time spent in my little backyard urban oasis, where I can sit under a giant maple tree and become entranced by the shifting colors of the sky. There’s also something really satisfying to me about taking hundreds or thousands of small, repetitive elements and combining them into something much larger. Each individual piece is simple, but together they become an immersive environment.
SHAILAH MAYNARD
– Where will your installation be located? Imagination Alley, Vine Street, OTR
– Briefly describe your installation. “THREADED LIGHT” transforms an ordinary alleyway into a glowing corridor of color, sound, light and texture. A luminous installation that celebrates the hands, materials, and processes behind the clothes we wear. Presented by Sew Valley, a nonprofit garment manufacturer rooted in Cincinnati’s creative and sustainable economy, the piece draws inspiration from the tactile world of apparel production and the invisible labor that shapes it.
– How many people were involved? We have a core planning team of 5 people, but our entire team of 15+ individuals will all contribute towards the overall look, feel, and installation of the temporary installation. We hope to utilize a portion in our facility after the festival is over to prevent as much as possible from going to landfill.
– Describe the construction process. We are partnering with our friends at Ohio Valley Goodwill to provide clothing for the clotheslines, videographer Rob Misleh to create a hologram of a sewing technician assembling a jacket at the forefront of the installation, and sound engineer Joey Thomas to record and feature sounds from our garment factory to make the user experience engaging and fun. Our trusted team will all contribute to assembling the installation.
– What is the inspiration for your piece? This installation embodies Sew Valley’s mission to build a more responsible, transparent, and equitable apparel manufacturing industry in Cincinnati. By bringing the textures and sounds and video of making into public space, “THREADED LIGHT” invites viewers to reflect on where, and by whom, their clothing is made. It celebrates the creativity and craftsmanship that sustain our local economy while challenging perceptions of manufacturing as hidden or outdated.
– How important is it to you, as a local artist, to be involved in a massive international art festival like BLINK? We’re excited to incorporate new textures and experiences to this year’s Blink festival. For us, this festival is an opportunity to challenge perceptions about what a garment factory can be and what apparel manufacturing looks like. As a nonprofit garment factory, we want people to see the skill, creativity, and human hands behind every piece of clothing they wear. We also want to show that apparel can be made right here in our own backyard, and that sewn trades and advanced manufacturing can offer sustainable, rewarding career paths for people looking to build and expand their skills. The Blink festival is a great opportunity to tell our story to a larger audience and do our part in changing the industry for the better.
– Is there anything else you want Cincinnatians to know about you and your work? All clothes are handmade!
KEMPER SAUCE STUDIOS
– Where will your installation be located? The Brady Music Center Lawn at The Banks.
– Briefly describe your installation. “YELL.E.D.: A series of arches serve as the structure for a canopy of LED netting. On either end of the structure are audio receivers. Yelling sends a wave of light, streaming down the light canopy. The louder you yell, the more light you send. Gather those around you and yell alongside your new squad to push the light further. On the other end of the light canopy is a competing receiver. Visualized sounds from each team meet in the center, dancing and blending as they go back and forth. Audiences will choose whether to compete or collaborate on an improvised, kinetic performance piece that will temporarily sit at the Brady Music Center Lawn.
– How many people were involved? Kemper Sauce Studios is an engineering and arts collective. Many hands help in the creation of our projects. The making of YELL.E.D. includes a software programmer, hardware designer, electrical engineer, and two metal workers.
– Describe the construction process. Tunnel structure: Engineering meetings and arch design discussions, metal working – welding and pipe bending. System hardware: controller, and power box design and building – Starts with schematics and wiring diagrams, followed by small scale tests, before sourcing, assembling, soldering, wiring, and building out the final project parts. Doing our best to keep the smoke inside the wires. Software development: Designing a pipeline to make crowd noise become art with signal processing audio inputs into visualizations – programming animations to the lights, programming audio inputs from the microphone receivers, writing spells.
– What is the inspiration for your piece? Our projects are for the people, and we all have something to yell about.
– How important is it to you, as a local artist, to be involved in a massive international art festival like BLINK? Our engineering and arts collective was formed with big ideas for BLINK 2017. We continue to expand our reach in the local arts community from the connections made at each BLINK festival. This massive art festival encourages us to make fun, interactive art for the people of Cincinnati and find like-minded artists to collaborate with and inspire development.
– Is there anything else you want Cincinnatians to know about you and your work? We build, wire, and code things we think are neat. DIY is in our DNA. Our spirit is fueled by pinball machines, Malort, that song from Tetris, and the rhythmic dance of stars reflecting off the waves on the open sea.
JOE GIRANDOLA AND THE ART ACADEMY OF CINCINNATI
– Where will your installation be located? Polka-DOTober will be centered at the Art Academy of Cincinnati in Over-the-Rhine, with the primary outdoor activation along Jackson Street between 12th and 13th Streets. Jackson Street, AAC’s building, and the surrounding streetscape will become the canvas for four days and nights of art, light, music, and performance. The experience will also extend inside the Art Academy through exhibitions, activities, and public spaces, making the entire campus part of the BLINK experience.
– Briefly describe your installation. Polka-DOTober is a four-night immersive activation that transforms the Art Academy of Cincinnati and Jackson Street into a luminous corridor of art, music, performance, and community participation. Large-scale 3D projection mapping will transform AAC’s architecture after dark, while illuminated and interactive sculptures, animation, student-created light works, dance, fire performance, and a giant illuminated inflatable version of AAC’s mascot, Stinker the Skunk, activate the street. Music is a major part of the experience. In collaboration with Cincinnati Music Accelerator (CMA), a mobile stage will anchor Jackson Street all four nights with local DJs, musicians, and performers and will host Stinkstock, AAC’s famous rock concert, for a special night of live music. Dance Flash Fusion, CityBeat’s Best of Cincinnati Best Dance Company, will perform across multiple nights, and AAC students will bring LED wings, illuminated sculptures, glow-in-the-dark face painting, and other light-based works into the festival. Polka-DOTober also extends beyond nighttime programming. Daytime activities include a Hoop Jam Hula Hoop Party, hands-on activities, exhibitions, and opportunities to explore AAC. On Saturday, October 10, Marshmallow, a live skunk from the Cincinnati Zoo, will even visit Stinker at AAC. Rather than presenting a single isolated artwork, Polka-DOTober activates an entire half city block and invites the public to move through it as a living, changing canvas.
– How many people were involved? This is a truly collaborative project involving dozens of people. The core AAC artist team includes AAC students, Marc Governanti, Sarah Stolar, Keith Benjamin, Michael Hurst, Stephen Kenny, Anh Tran, Grace Wohlschlegel, and me, with additional faculty artists, staff, technical specialists, fabricators, installers, performers, and student workers contributing throughout the project. The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is also an important creative partner, building on AAC’s relationship with Marshmallow the skunk and bringing that distinctly Cincinnati connection into Polka-DOTober. Cincinnati Music Accelerator is bringing its mobile stage and four nights of music programming; Dance Flash Fusion and other performers will activate Jackson Street; and additional community and cultural partners are contributing to the larger experience. Red Bull will also partner with AAC throughout BLINK, bringing an additional street-level presence to Polka-DOTober. A Red Bull MINI Cooper will be stationed at the corner of 12th and Jackson Streets, with Red Bull brand ambassadors on site distributing complimentary Red Bull to festival visitors.
– Describe the construction process. The installation brings together physical fabrication, digital art, projection, lighting, sound, and performance. A high-powered projector will be used for architectural 3D projection mapping, while LED lighting, electrical components, rigging and aircraft cable, large-scale inflatable sculpture, sound equipment, and interactive elements will transform the surrounding streetscape. Lifts and professional rigging are used to safely install work across the building and public spaces. At the same time, students and faculty are creating animations, illuminated sculptures, projections, and performance-based works in AAC’s studios and classrooms. Those works then have to be translated from the scale of a studio or computer screen to the scale of a building and city street. Installation requires close coordination among artists, students, technical specialists, fabricators, performers, and production teams, followed by a complete de-installation after BLINK.
– What is the inspiration for your piece? The inspiration comes from the idea that the city itself can become a canvas. At the Art Academy, we think of public space as an extension of the classroom and a place where experimentation, education, professional artistic practice, and community can intersect. The polka-dot imagery gives us a playful visual language that can move across architecture, sculpture, projection, light, performance, and the street itself. Stinker the Skunk adds another layer of humor and personality that is distinctly AAC. But the larger idea is about creating a place where people encounter something different every few feet: a projection across a building, an illuminated sculpture made by a student, a DJ or band performing on the CMA stage, dancers moving through the street, or an unexpected interaction with an artwork. Ultimately, the inspiration is Cincinnati—its people, its architecture, its creative energy, and the possibility of taking a familiar place and making it feel completely different for a few extraordinary nights.
– How important is it to you, as a local artist, to be involved in a massive international art festival like BLINK? As an artist, educator, and President of the Art Academy of Cincinnati, I see BLINK as an extraordinary opportunity to place AAC artists, students, and emerging creative voices alongside artists working at an international level. There is something powerful about hundreds of thousands of people encountering art directly in the streets rather than only within traditional cultural spaces. For AAC, it is especially important because our students are part of a major international art festival. They are making work for buildings and public streets, collaborating with professional artists and technical teams, performing for large audiences, and seeing firsthand what it takes to move an idea from the studio into public space. That intersection of education, professional practice, community, and experimentation has been at the heart of the Art Academy’s place in Cincinnati for more than 150 years. BLINK allows us to put that philosophy into practice on an extraordinary scale.
– Is there anything else you want Cincinnatians to know about you and your work? My own practice has always been interested in sculpture, public art, drawing, mixed-media installation, community placemaking, and the relationship between concept, material, and site. Polka-DOTober brings many of those interests together, but what excites me most is that this project is larger than any one artist. It represents AAC students, faculty, alumni, staff, artists, performers, and community partners coming together to make something ambitious for Cincinnati. I also want Cincinnatians to understand that AAC is opening its doors during BLINK and inviting the city into the creative life of the college. Visitors can experience the light installations and performances outside and then come inside to discover exhibitions and other programming. SITE1212 will feature internationally recognized photographer Accra Shepp’s Bearing Witness as part of the 2026 FotoFocus Biennial, alongside opportunities throughout AAC to encounter student work and experience the college itself. Most of all, we want people to come down Jackson Street and have fun. See Stinker glowing over the street, hear music from the CMA stage, watch dancers and performers, encounter student artwork, come inside and see an exhibition, make something, hula hoop, or simply spend some time with us. Polka-DOTober is meant to be joyful, accessible, a little strange, and unmistakably AAC.
LIV CASSINELLI
– Where will your installation be located? At the Payphone Mural on 1614 Race Street near Findlay Market.
– Briefly describe your installation. It’s a colorful looping animation that will be projected onto an existing mural in Over-The-Rhine.
– How many people were involved? Just me! While my projection will be a temporary exhibit for the festival, the existing mural is a permanent BLINK project from 2024, painted by artists Leon Keer & Massina.
– Describe the construction process. The process has included several months of brainstorming, sketching, and slowly refining my video sequence. I avoid using generative AI and mainly use adobe after effects to animate.
– What is the inspiration for your piece? The existing mural gave me a great base to jump off of, sparking inspiration from our city’s lively urban environment, street art, and bold colors that line our cityscape. The graffiti on the phone also sparked deeper meanings of longing and loss. But largely I wanted to showcase some fun and whimsy through the project.
– How important is it to you, as a local artist, to be involved in a massive international art festival like BLINK? I feel honored to be able to showcase my work on such a large scale canvas in my hometown. It’s a huge deal to my loved ones and I for the opportunity to participate in such a memorable event! I’m proud to be a queer tattoo artist, designer, and muralist from little ol’ Cincinnati, Ohio. Our city has so many opportunities for grassroots creatives, sometimes you just have to really put yourself out there and keep going!
CHASE MELENDEZ
– Where will your installation be located? Covington City Hall.
– Briefly describe your installation. It’s a permanent exterior mural located in the courtyard of the main entrance of the building.
– How many people were involved? Just me.
– Describe the construction process. Create designs to fit the location, get approval, the wall will be prepped then I will draw the design onto the wall and then paint it.
– What is the inspiration for your piece? The piece is a continuation of my exploration of space, rhythm, and movement while bringing interaction and energy to the location.
– How important is it to you, as a local artist, to be involved in a massive international art festival like BLINK? It’s extremely important and a huge honor! Even if I wasn’t a local artist it would be a big deal, and being a local artist makes it even more special.
This article appears in Sept. 30 – Oct. 13, 2026.
