By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
The Greater Cincinnati area will again celebrate the BLINK event by presenting new technologies and fascinating light displays to thrill the public Oct. 8-11.
Northern Kentucky University’s School of the Arts have been participating in the unique event since 2017, when they had light streams, and a sculptural and music collaboration, where they had a symphony orchestra on the Banks.
This year will be the second year of their collaboration with TANK, the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky, to produce an effect that will be even bigger and better than last year.
“We have a little over 20 students working on this project,” said Candace Van Loveren Geis, Program Head of Art and Design at the NKU School of the Arts and Coordinator of the TANK project. “We are outfitting a TANK bus with a live video feed from the back to the front of the bus. There will also be close to 30,000 animated lights all over the bus.”
On Thursday, October 8, the bus will be at the Ready, Set, Blink block party from 4-9 p.m., by TQL stadium on Central Parkway, with live performances and food trucks, where people can see the full brilliance of the outfitted bus.
Then from October 9 through October 11 they will be at a Covington zone on west Sixth Street, near Mother of God Church, and there will be projections of light onto the church, from 7-11 p.m.
“The bus is actually full of electrical and technical equipment so no one will be on the bus except the bus driver,” she explained. “It’s all circulating around the bus, and there will be those video portals, so people can kind of visually communicate through video from the front to the back of the bus. The animated lights will be on the piers, which are like bridge symbolism on the back of the bus, and then streams of light going down the sides of the bus.
Van Loveren Geis said the cost of the project has been about $16,000 in supplies, and then they are employing the student leaders with a grant they received for $2000. In addition, they have received about $1600 in grant funds.
“A lot of the grant funds for supplies came from TANK,” she said. “They approached us, they are our community partner, and they pitched in a huge amount of the budget, and the School of the Arts pitched in some, and Shauna Riley’s office gave some.”
She said students have been working on this bus for months, since May of this year.
“I think this is a great thing,” said Reed Staley, a senior at Northern Kentucky University, who is majoring in 3D Design and Visual Effects. “It brings together all these people and all these different disciplines. It fits all these different backgrounds and disciplines, and it’s a great way to come together and create something big with such a talented group.”
Another student, Savannah Koch, who is an NKU senior majoring in Studio Arts, is working on the project for the first time, like Reed.
“This has been a great experience,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot about planning as a team. It’s like a once in a lifetime experience, being able to work on Blink, and being able to be part of creating something that so many people will be able to enjoy for this event.”
Monday was a test run, and Van Loveren Geis said they have three electric generators inside the bus because to take an electric bus to a location and let it run for hours, it would generate a lot of heat which makes the bus very hot, something akin to a kiln. The generators run the entire show.
“There will be tiny cameras coming from the front of the bus to the back,” she said, “and then the front windshield will also be like a giant movie screen.”
Due to the fact that they have to move the bus, the giant piers on the back of the bus which simulates the bridge can’t stay on the bus while it is moving, so TANK came up with a trailer with built in cradles that will carry the fragile piers and anything else that can’t be attached more permanently to the bus. All the lights will stay on as they move the bus.
“The students won’t be on the bus, but they will be there to monitor things,” she explained. “The computers are set up to run the show on a loop for four hours at a time. But computers aren’t water tolerant, so we have had to plan for that. We did consider sound bleed, with other sound equipment, but the only place we might have problems with that is at the TQL stadium. In Covington there aren’t any other big sound displays.”
She said that the students went back and forth in the design phase as to whether to concentrate the attraction more on the inside of the bus or have it all on the outside of the bus, and the decision was to let the inside of the bus be computer run, with about five students to monitor any problems. During the show, however, no humans should go inside the bus, which she said was unusual, since going inside the bus is the usual way to interact with the bus.
Instead, the bus will be the medium, or base, for the light and music show.
“No students will go on the roof of the bus, but I will, since we have a lot of electrical equipment on the roof,” Van Loveren Geis said. “The students are learning a lot of things that they would not usually encounter in the classrooms, so it will give them good experience. It all comes together. We planned for people to see the show, and it is estimated that there will be one to two million people per night.”
She said BLINK decided not to activate the Newport portion this year due to the bridge construction, but they have expanded the Covington portion. They will have shuttle service, sponsored by TANK, from NKU for a nominal charge so people won’t have to find a place to park if they don’t choose to. They did receive another grant from the College for parking and mileage on student cars. A lot more information is on the website for BLINK.
Jenny Kammen, Marketing Manager for TANK, was on hand to observe what the group was doing, and she was impressed.
“It was amazing the first time around last year, and it will be even better this year,” she said. “It is a cool opportunity to pair two Northern Kentucky places to showcase the talent of the students. Everyone is excited.”
Van Loveren Geis said that the bus represents an installation sculpture, and they have included professors in sculpture, animation, design and music in this effort.
“Last year we were only in the parade, and we had wearable art that was lighted,” she said. “This year we are all electricity from inside the bus. It was the boldest, in depth idea from the students and TANK was supportive and on board. I am an art educator, and I encourage students to take creative risks, and I am pleased with this project.”
She looked around at the project taking shape, surveying the progress with pride, and watching them get ready for a test run.
“The students have worked on this for months, and I have worked longer than that,” she commented softly. “Now it is real.”