Miami students showcase the power of community through art with BLINK installation
‘Once and Future’ to be projected onto Madison Theater in Covington Oct. 8-11
Miami students showcase the power of community through art with BLINK installation
‘Once and Future’ to be projected onto Madison Theater in Covington Oct. 8-11
Madison Theater has deep roots in the Covington community. Several Miami University students will explore the theater’s long tradition and history Oct. 8-11 as part of BLINK, the largest public art and light festival in the United States.
Held throughout Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, the four-day BLINK event is a showcase for more than 80 large-scale installations from local, national, and international artists.
Miami’s installation, “Madison Theater: Once and Future,” is at 730 Madison Ave. in the Covington Zone. First opened in 1912 as a silent movie house, the Madison Theater has evolved over the years into a popular music venue.
Miami’s BLINK team will highlight the theater’s story with a 3½ minute video that includes live action, rotoscoping, animation, and an original music composition. “Once and Future” will take spectators on a journey across the longtime fixture’s 100-plus years of history.
“It’s been a gathering place for people to come together and find community through the arts,” said Garland Weaver, the project’s art director. “It was clear it would be very fitting to take this time to do this homage to its history and the community behind it. It’s a dramatic arc of highs and lows. You want to do your best to honor and celebrate that.”
The BLINK project is part of IMS 440: Emerging Technology Practicum, a capstone course for Emerging Technology students, with some Games and Simulation majors as well.
Lia Watt, the physical media team lead, estimated that at least 300 hours have been spent since the beginning of fall semester working on the installation.
That included some sleepless nights.
“Most artists get the whole summer to work on their project. We get five weeks,” Watt said. “I’m just so excited to see our work on the building. I’m excited to see what everybody else has, too. It blows my mind what people can come up with for this sort of event.”
Along with Watt and Weaver, Miami’s BLINK team features Mary Johnston-Medina (project manager); Aiden Garcia (narrative and digital rendering team); Sydney Mulford (narrative and digital rendering team); Marissa Ellis (narrative and physical media team); Nathan Lomnicky (digital rendering team lead and 3D modeler); Elijah Phipps (digital rendering team lead and creative technologist); West Cannon (digital rendering team lead and assistant editor); Sophia Aggazio (digital rendering team, physical media team, and 3D modeler); Charlie Ha (digital rendering team); Kalli Vintzel (digital rendering team); Nick Schoster (digital rendering team); Alyssa Black (sound designer); Hayley Ho (assistant sound designer, narrative team, digital rendering team, and marketing); Grace Witt (physical media team); Ethan Himes (physical media team); Bennett Poplin (physical media team); Madeline Delong (marketing lead); Ethan Clark (marketing); Payton Redmon (marketing); Lucia Ventos (marketing); and Leo Nicholson (lead editor).
Molly Moran, associate chair of Emerging Technology in Business and Design, and Nate Wilkens, a 2021 Miami graduate, serve as advisors for the project.
“I’m really excited to be able to show it to other people,” Vintzel said. “I’m going to bring friends and family, and I want to see their reactions. I’m excited for all of us as a group to see our hard work shown on the building.”
Working on “Once and Future” has been unique because of its structure.
“This is one of those classes where you show up and students get to figure everything out,” Elijah Phipps said. “We have a student manager. We have a student creative team. We have student team leads. We have students running everything. It’s just a very small, very tight-knit studio. It’s a valuable experience for us. We have one deadline, and that deadline is BLINK.”
Miami students have worked on past BLINK installations, including in 2022 and 2024. This year’s festival also features installations in the Findlay Market Zone, OTR Zone, Fountain Zone, and Banks Zone.
The Miami teams create process books containing photos, interviews, and additional information to catalogue the experience for potential future Miami students.
“It showcases how students work on projects like BLINK,” Moran said. “We also show the process books to businesses and potential clients who ask for our students to do work for them.”
Process books capture the totality of the project. A group Discord and lots of feedback have helped keep the project on track.
“There is a lot of communication at every step,” Watt said.
With “Once and Future” in the Covington Zone, Moran hopes the Miami community makes special plans to cross the river to see the university’s BLINK offering.
“It’s a fantastic venue to do this with,” Moran said of Madison Theater.
According to the BLINK website, more than 2 million people attended the festival in 2024. It was also the first year the event featured installations in Covington.
Being able to highlight a local landmark also offers the chance to commit to local storytelling.
“So many people have made this thing happen,” Weaver said. “We’re trying to show people just how powerful community through the arts can be.”