CINCINNATI (WKRC) - After Lumenocity was such a big hit in Cincinnati, Steve McGowan and Dan Reynolds wanted to do something more. Their answer: BLINK Cincinnati.
"We had a lot of luck to work on Lumenocity three years in row," Reynolds said.
Tim Maloney of the Haille Foundation suggested a light show he'd seen in Europe. Reynolds and McGowan have a company called Brave Berlin and they already had an idea.
"Steve and I kind of had this idea in our head that if you didn't have to do this with a concert, which was a beautiful wonderful experience, but if we could break away from that, we could do projection mapping all over the city in smaller form," Reynolds said.
McGowan added with a laugh, "We said smaller form, but then it turned into 30 city blocks. So, yeah, it kind of took on a life of its own."
BLINK Cincinnati is a show fit for a king and queen. Buildings are transformed into giant canvasses as colorful images are projected onto them.
"We wanted to highlight buildings and spaces that you drive by a thousand times and never really give a second look and all of that seemed to come together in 2017 and it was really amazing," McGowan said.
McGowan and Reynolds also wanted to include Northern Kentucky in this year's BLINK. So, the show will now encompass seven blocks of downtown Covington along Madison Avenue and the Roebling Suspension Bridge is also a part of it.
"There's no way to do Kentucky and not do the bridge and do something amazing with that," said Reynolds, who lives in Northern Kentucky.
Since McGowan and Reynolds are the creative directors, they see every piece of work that will be included in the show. More than 200 artists are a part of it and they say some of what they've seen has been amazing.
"In the last couple of weeks, as we've seen everyone's final files come in, our jaws are on the floor," Reynolds said.
The duo promises this year's show will be bigger and better.
"It's a big, big show. A spectacle, yeah. Like you've never seen," McGowan said.
Brave Berlin, ArtWorks, the Chamber of Commerce and AGAR have partnered for this year's event. It's only held every other year because of the cost. Reynolds and McGowan say it takes about 18 months to raise the $4 million needed through sponsorships to fund BLINK.
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