Sparkfest: A snapshot of modern art for Gen Z

It was a bright and sunny day for artists to play music, sell paint, draw portraits and share free pizza and cookies. Student organizations such as the Associated Student Government and the Miami University Center for Career Exploration and Success had tables filled with markers and crafts to create art at the annual Sparkfest celebration.

Last year, Sparkfest was moved inside the Creative Arts Building because of the rain. This time, most of the booths were set up on the quad. However, there were displays inside the Art Building, including those by students from the games and simulations program.

Charlie Wright, a senior games and simulation major, shared the game his capstone project had been working on for the last three semesters. They chose to create a mystery thriller set in medieval Vietnam.

“Our team lead is Vietnamese,” Wright said. “She was very passionate.”

Research on a Vietnamese dragon that turns against the city was central in the game. Wright described the benefits he found in testing their program in public events.

“We don’t get many opportunities to test,” Wright said. “It makes it kind of difficult.”

Wright and his teammate, Cole Hayes, considered this long-form project another job. Putting it on display at an arts-based event looped in video games as an art form.

“I feel like it’s less recognized as an art form,” Wright said. “I very much enjoy the fact that we can put it here … assimilates us within that community.”

Kerigan Moore, a junior history and professional writing student, attended the event for the first time and came to watch a friend play live music. She expected to see things she’d never seen before.

“I think [the criteria for the art is] eccentric, sometimes alternative,” Moore said. “...expanding my horizons, but also cute usable things that I would be interested in.”

As a history major, Moore’s studies overlap with the evolution of art. She recalled that art in the Renaissance period was mostly religious. She observed the difference in post-modern art at the displays.

“I would say modern art is just up to the person,” Moore said, “but it tends to be more like, resembling impressionistic and alternative culture than religious institutions.

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Moore described the difference between creating art for the collective approval and making personal works that share the passions of the individual.

“Whenever I come to an event like this, I’m gonna come up to a booth, and I’m gonna realize, ‘Okay, the person sitting behind the booth, if they made the art, this is an expression of themselves,’” Moore said.

Sparkfest allows students to sell products made in their classes, including jewelry, fashion, knit work and painting.

Joseph Moody, a junior majoring in music education, watched the musicians perform at the front of the event. Rock bands, a cappella groups, keyboard players and more performed throughout the day. Moody played with the jazz ensemble.

Sparkfest 2026 showed that young people accept a wide umbrella of “art.” Students defined the boundaries of broad creative expression by legitimizing technological works, musical performances, small usable items and interactive DIY.

zimmer82@miamioh.edu