Andrew Salzbrun, AGAR

About twelve years ago, I saw something that changed how I thought about public art. It was Sofles, painting a mural that didn’t stop at paint. It moved. It evolved. It came alive through projection. At the time, there wasn’t really a name for it. Just a sense that this was where things were headed.

Before projection-mapped murals were even a category, artists like Sofles were helping invent it. Around that same time, we traveled to Vivid Sydney – not to present, but to learn. We studied how they built experiences at city scale, how they thought about flow, density, and discovery. We took notes, and brought them home. What eventually became BLINK Cincinnati was shaped by those early moments.

Not as a copy. But as a response.

Projection-mapped murals became one of our signatures – not as a trend, but as a belief: A wall shouldn’t just display art. It should shape an experience. This June, that story comes full circle.

AGAR has been invited to present Afterimage at Vivid Sydney 2026, a live-painted mural by Sofles, transformed nightly through projection by Chaske Haverkos.

But the real moment isn’t just Sydney. We’ve invited Sofles to join us in Cincinnati this October as a contributing artist for BLINK 2026. So the artist who helped shape our thinking from a distance… is now part of the work itself.

And if I’m being honest—this one hits differently.

It’s rare you can trace a straight line between a single moment of inspiration and the work you’ve spent the last decade building. That video didn’t just spark an idea. In a lot of ways, it helped shape the direction of my life’s work – and AGAR’s. Not because we set out to replicate it, but because it showed what was possible. This is bigger than an installation. This is Cincinnati’s creative ecosystem showing up on a global stage.

It’s proof that when cities treat creativity as infrastructure – not an accessory – they don’t just create moments.They create momentum. And increasingly, that momentum moves across cities, across countries, and back again. You see something that shifts your perspective.

You build on it.

You stay with it.

And eventually – 

You don’t just follow the idea. You meet it. Build with it. And bring it home.

More to come from Sydney → Cincinnati.

Learn more: https://www.vividsydney.com/event/light/afterimage-a-projection-mapped-mural