Photograph courtesy Cincinnati Chamber
BLINK returns to Cincinnati and Covington October 8-11 with four days of light, projection mapping, murals, and installations sprawling from Madison Avenue in Covington through Cincinnati’s riverfront and across Fountain Square, Over-the-Rhine, and Findlay Market. Billed as the nation’s largest public art festival, the 2024 version drew more than 2 million attendees from 216 unique ZIP codes, with 15 countries represented.
First launched in 2017 by the Cincinnati Regional Chamber, AGAR, and partners, BLINK happens every other year (with a pause during the pandemic). This year’s edition marks Leslie Mooney’s first as executive director, and she says a major change will occur right at the outset with an opening block party along Central Parkway in front of TQL Stadium instead of the usual opening parade. The evening culminates in a collective “turn on the lights” moment around 8:30 p.m., followed by a drone show above the stadium.
BLINK’s permanent mural program is expanding to Covington this year. Since launching in 2017, the festival has produced more than 70 murals, mostly around Findlay Market. “We’re going to add another 10 or so murals that will leave behind artwork in Covington,” says Mooney, who joined the Chamber as vice president in 2025 after serving as executive director of the Clifton Cultural Arts Center. “We’re calling that section the Madison Walls District.”
Photograph courtesy Cincinnati Chamber
The Riverbanks Zone, which includes Smale Riverfront Park and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, will host light-based installations and participatory pieces. Cincinnati artist Asha Ama Daniels will return with another fashion show, this time at the Black Music Walk of Fame.
“One piece we’re going to have down there that’s so fun and whimsical is a giant unicorn from an artist based out of New Orleans,” says Mooney. “There’s going to be some really cool interactive pieces at The Banks.”
Other BLINK highlights include projection mapping of the Neil Armstrong mural near Fountain Square; a major light-based installation near the renovated First Finanical Center and Elm Street Plaza; Tristan Eaton’s massive 18,000-square-foot mural illuminated by UC College-Conservatory of Music students; several installations at Piatt Park, featuring projection mapping of Covenant-First Presbyterian Church; and a partnership with the School for Creative and Performing Arts. Four different artists will be represented on the face of Music Hall, including a commissioned piece celebrating America 250.
Photograph courtesy Cincinnati Chamber
“One of the things that makes BLINK so unique from other light projection festivals in this country or elsewhere is that we have so many great murals,” says Mooney. “And not just BLINK-produced murals, but 1001 Colors murals and other street art. It isn’t typical that projection mappers actually build on murals. The fact that we have such stunning artwork and that we specifically seek out mural-mapping artists is a unique to BLINK.”
Mooney has attended all iterations of BLINK, but this marks her first on the production side. She says the undertaking wouldn’t be possible without total buy-in from the cities of Cincinnati and Covington and their partners.
“We give very few artistic parameters,” she says. “We don’t do a theme in terms of directing artists. I think that’s what makes this event so attractive and how we get hundreds of submissions every time. It really is an opportunity for artists to showcase their best work.”
