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. In our latest cover issue, all about BLINK, we share part one of our Q&As with several artists from this year’s festival, including how they’re helping light up the Queen City.
DAN SHIELDS
– Where will your installation be located? Elm Street Plaza, near 5th Street.
– Briefly describe your installation. The triumphant return of String Theory for Dummies 2.0 as last seen at BLINK 2022 in Washington Park. I will be setting up a large structure using trussing with netting to create attachment points. Visitors will be invited to add their own contribution to the installation by tossing balls of fluorescent yarn and weaving existing strands. The installation will include a programmed light show, lots of UV blacklights, and use of a custom-built UV laser to create unusual effects on the fluorescent yarn. I’ll be providing a number of special surprise features to both help people launch yarn up high and also to provide targets/goals. I’m working on targets that, when struck by balls of yarn, will affect the light show of the entire piece. Think of them like the different sized targets found on Skee-Ball games.
– Describe the construction process. For this piece, I’m having a vendor construct a large cube-like structure out of metal trussing, approximately 40’x40′ by 18′ tall. This will have a large net attached to the top of the structure to create a roof. I will work with a small team of volunteers to create a basic structure of yarn by tossing yarn balls through the ceiling net, attaching to the vertical trussing and ground, and weaving the pieces together to create a consistent form. Visitors will then be invited to join in the fun and make their own contributions, with guidance from me and my team via a megaphone and hands-on learning.
– What is the inspiration for your piece? I have been using yarn for group collaborative projects since 2014 and there are many things I can point to for inspiration. Yarn can be remarkably strong, but it is not unbreakable and has a limit. Too much stress or too much tension may cause a connection to break. In that same way, every relationship has its limit – relationships to friends, partners, careers, achievement, health, pleasure, etc. Relationships can endure an incredible amount, they can morph and change without breaking. However, too much stress in one area could break a connection, and that delicate but resilient network of support could break, unravel and fall apart completely. A single strand of yarn is not strong by itself, but many strands, when working together, can do incredible things that the individual pieces are not capable of doing alone. Much like a single person cannot turn the tide of any new cultural change alone (whether socially or in any industry), groups of people can band together to accomplish unimaginable feats. Many hands make light work. Pulling on one strand of yarn sends ripples out across the entire piece because it is all connected. You cannot express change or influence, however small, without sending ripples of impact across the whole. There’s a lesson here about our inherent connection to every other human being on Earth. It may seem faint at times, but our lives are all woven together. So always be mindful of the web you weave.
– How important is it to you, as a local artist, to be involved in a massive international art festival like BLINK? BLINK is a huge reason I am an artist. I worked at a public relations firm for years and never took art seriously until I was 30. Up until that point, each year I would create one piece for a small music festival run by friends. However, I attended the first BLINK in 2017, thought it was the coolest thing ever, and set a goal to be involved. I was accepted in 2019 and knew that I needed to create the best piece possible to live up to the standard set by the first edition of the event. Thanks to the positive reception of that piece, I began pursuing art seriously as a career. Seven years later I’m a professional artist. I absolutely love BLINK and owe a huge debt to this event because it gave me confidence as an artist, but it also brings the whole city to life in a way I’ve never seen at any other event. Cincinnati is often overlooked by the global art community, so BLINK’s ability to bring international artists to exhibit incredible work while they also cross-pollinate with the city’s culture and local art community is absolutely invaluable on so many levels.
– Is there anything else you want Cincinnatians to know about you and your work? I was never a person who felt comfortable with the title “artist.” For most of my life, I felt that term was reserved for people like Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Picasso, Dali, and the greats. I stumbled backwards into being an artist and it was the last thing I ever thought possible. However, it was the look on people’s faces in 2019 as they turned the corner and saw my first BLINK installation that made me think ‘I might just have something here.’ This is when I began to understand that art doesn’t come from artists; art comes from people, and every person has something unique to add to that conversation. Much to the surprise of my 29 year old self, even I have something to add.
ALANDES POWELL
– Where will your installation be located? One is at the Cincinnati Convention Center / Elm Street Plaza area; the other is at 801 Plum Street, directly in front of Cincinnati City Hall.
– Briefly describe your installation. “PASSING THE TORCH” – Six years after Cincinnati’s original Black Lives Matter! mural was created in 2020, Black Art Speaks is reimagining the mural for a new chapter. The 2026 mural is centered on the theme “Passing the Torch,” and an original poem titled We Must, by Alandes Powell. Rather than simply repainting what existed before, we are honoring the artists and history of the original mural while bringing a new generation of lead artists into the work. For BLINK, the mural will also be incorporated into a light/projection experience, adding another dimension to the work when it is unveiled on October 8. “Twinkle Twinkle Funk Glasses” takes the Funk Glasses public artwork at Elm Street Plaza and transforms it through projection mapping, light, animation and movement into a BLINK experience celebrating the city’s extraordinary musical and cultural legacy. It is fun, bold, colorful and unmistakably Cincinnati.
– How many people were involved? The project includes 18 artist teams — 17 letter teams plus a Letter Zero team — involving lead artists, supporting artists, project leadership and other collaborators. Plus the staff of Black Art Speaks; Alandes Powell, CEO, Marsha Thornton, COS, and Alexis Patton, Project Manager. Brandon Hawkins serves as the overall Project Director.
– Describe the construction process. The process began long before paint touches the street. It included developing the “Passing the Torch” concept, writing We Must, selecting the new lead artists, pairing and transitioning artists, completing multiple phases of design development, coordinating 18 teams and preparing the site. Plum Street will close beginning October 1, and the artists will paint the mural October 2–8, leading to its unveiling on October 8 during BLINK.
– What is the inspiration for your piece? For the mural, the inspiration is legacy, responsibility and what comes next. The original mural captured an extraordinary moment in Cincinnati in 2020. Six years later, we wanted to do more than repaint it. We wanted to honor the people who created that history while asking a new generation of artists to tell the story based on today. That is why the theme is “Passing the Torch.” The words We Must are also intentional. Change doesn’t happen simply because we believe in something. There are things we must do individually and collectively to create the community and future we say we want. For “Twinkle Twinkle Funk Glasses,” the major inspiration is Cincinnati’s own Bootsy Collins. Bootsy’s iconic glasses, unmistakable style, creativity and larger-than-life presence have become symbols of funk itself. He also represents something extremely important to this project: Cincinnati’s influence on music and culture reaches far beyond Cincinnati. The installation also celebrates the broader legacy of King Records and the musicians, artists and innovators who helped establish Cincinnati as an important center of American music.
– How important is it to you, as a local artist, to be involved in a massive international art festival like BLINK? BLINK gives Cincinnati artists an international platform without requiring them to leave Cincinnati to find one. Thousands of people will walk through our city and experience work created here, by artists who live and work here. That creates visibility, but it also creates economic opportunity and demonstrates the extraordinary level of creative talent that exists in Cincinnati. Having two very different Black Art Speaks projects in BLINK is particularly meaningful. One asks people to think about justice, legacy, responsibility and what we must do next. The other celebrates music, creativity, joy and Cincinnati’s contribution to culture. Both are about telling our stories and making sure those stories continue.
– Is there anything else you want Cincinnatians to know about you and your work? Black Art Speaks was born from the creation of Cincinnati’s original Black Lives Matter! mural in 2020. What started with one historic piece of public art grew into an organization committed to creating opportunities for artists and using art as a vehicle for culture, economic opportunity, conversation and social change.
CEDRIC MICHAEL COX, BRENT KELTCH
– Where will your installation be located? Smale Riverfront Park.
– Briefly describe your installation. Polyphonic Pyramid is a temporary installation, a 14-foot-tall pyramid that incorporates the paintings of Cedric Michael Cox and Brent Keltch’s 360-degree photography of Downtown Cincinnati to create a vivid montage of the city we love. The use of 360 cameras nearby adds an interactive element, and allows the audience to control the projected mapping composition. The diverse layers of geometric shapes, with Cox’s whimsical forms and patterns, reference the diverse culture of our city while celebrating the diverse architectural elements that welcome all who visit, live, shop, and work in and around our Queen City.
– Describe the construction process. From the raw canvas that we painted on, which is stretched on the metal frames, everything was custom fabricated.
– What is the inspiration for your piece? Art is an essential way for Brent and I to communicate and build relationships with all communities, and with public art, Brent and I have a history of doing this. With decades of combined experience between the two of us, we are always interested in finding new and inventive ways to get people closer to the art and the artists who make it.
FRANK D. YOUNG AND JIM TUCKER
– Where will your installation be located? Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen in Over-the-Rhine.
– Briefly describe your installation. Our mural is a love letter to Our Daily Bread and the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood that mixes the painting style of Jim Tucker with the portrait photography of Frank Young.
– Describe the construction process. Wheatpaste portraits blended with free hand painted art.
– What is the inspiration for your piece? The beautiful people of Over-the-Rhine who make the area so incredibly special. It is extremely important to Jim and I to be involved in this cycle so that we can continue the road paved by past artists that have participated such as Chaskeh and Gee Horton. Both Jim and I love Cincinnati very, very much, and we are proud to be here making art that Cincinnati can love and be proud of.
This article appears in Sept. 30 – Oct. 13, 2026.
