BLINK Camp 2024

BLINK Camp was a great idea. They put a bunch of artists in “glamping” tents, fed us all for 3 days, provided us with ample amounts of alcohol and art supplies then gave everyone a challenge and let us spread our wings. We’re talking a pallet of spray paint and various other leftover materials, a donated 100k(?) lumen projector, a complementary LaserCube or two, and other reasonable items upon request. Truly magical.

I’m not sure that anyone expected this to go as well as it did. I think the goal was just to strengthen bonds between everyone and encourage collaboration, as the event was put on by various BLINK organizers and included BLINK staff. I certainly discovered that our community of artists in the Cincinnati area is extremely talented.

We were split into several teams, mine was the woods team. We had free reign of the property but a rainstorm shortly after scouting began led us to use our first choice. We schemed up some ideas together and everyone came together into the barn during the rainstorm, creating a wonderful little beehive of drunken creative activity. This highlights perhaps the best part of BLINK Camp: the relaxed attitude. There was never any pressure to create anything. We all were just having so much fun that we decided it would be more fun to impress each other than to put in a half-hearted effort. When our team came together, we immediately gelled and amplified eachothers ideas.

Our team didn’t have many materials except glow sticks, fishing line, cardboard, and plastic dropcloths. I brought one bag with some odd lengths of yarn and a short piece of hooked tubing from a previous installation, as well as some wire and paracord and my lights. We had a runner pick up some hula hoops at the store and integrated those into our idea. We had scouted the location with the natural hill amphitheater and an old stump position neatly at the top center, and everything grew out from the natural setup of the space. As the portal was put in, foliage was meticulously trimmed away only where necessary to create the illusion that the portal was cutting through them and a tunnel was cleared to the stump with the two hula hoops suspended above. The laser emphasized this gap in the foliage and increased the feeling of illusion.

We worked together on everything but I mostly focused on the portal along with another member, and the rest of the team created the entry and all of the wonderful anticipation that came from obscuring the end destination.

Other teams created projections on trees and a barn, or contemplative walkways and a powerful installation in the barn. One person painted cardboard boxes while another grammy-winning artist curated a playlist. At the end we all lit a tall bonfire by shooting fireworks at gasoline-soaked hay and pallets arranged like a giant triangle.

Overall I give BLINK Camp a 10 out of 10. Would recommend, would ride again.