Getting around to see all the exhibits during the Blink festival shouldn't be too hard. That's according to organizers. Cynthia Oxley of the Regional Chamber says there will be 35 light-based installations, 22 projection sites, along with six stages and ten murals, between the Banks and Findlay Market.
"There are very few street closures. Freedom Way between Rosa Parks and Joe Nuxhall Way; Pleasant Street between 14th and Glass Alley; Jackson between 12th and 13th; Logan between Elder and Findlay; And Garfield between Vine and Elm," Oxley says.
There's also a parade on the first night which will close Vine Street through Over-the-Rhine.
Artworks' Marie Krulewitch-Browne says the parade will start as the sun goes down on October 12.
"We have more than 2,500 local and regional participants, ranging from school groups, arts and cultural groups, civic groups, all of whom will be illuminated, to help us kick off this amazing, magical experience."
The parade will start near Findlay Market, and travel down Vine Street, to end at Washington Park. Funk and R&B bass player Bootsy Collins will be the inaugural grand marshal, and will march in the parade along with his wife, Patti.
Blink organizers say while the event is about projection mapping and light installations, longer lasting art will come out of it. Andrew Salzbrun of AGAR says this week artist teams started painting ten murals along Pleasant Street, near Findlay Market.
"Our plan with Zone Four is to zoom in and really focus on the Pleasant Street corridor. And the beauty of what we're tackling here is that these murals will be permanent and will last for years to come. They will be an opportunity for people to rediscover a part of their neighborhood, a part of their city, in new forms that they haven't had the opportunity to in the past."
Salbrun says there are local and international artists including some from Lithuania, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and Belgium. The murals should be complete when Blink starts October 12.
Blink organizers say SORTA has told them all available streetcars will be running during regular hours for the event, which is October 12 through the 15.
Overall, Blink is estimated to cost $3 million dollars, according to Steve McGowan of Brave Berlin. His company is handling the map projection, like it did for Lumenocity. "Can't see it all in one day. It's going to take two or three days to get through it all."
