Fundraiser Coming Up As BQE 'Silent Lights' Lighting Installation Nears Reality
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Earlier this year, we told you about a proposal to light up a pedestrian area under the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. Efforts to make the project a reality continue, but the people behind it need your help to get the job done.
The temporary installation, called Silent Lights, would be located under the BQE on the median of 9th Street and Hamilton Avenue, which is one of the few paths connecting Red Hook to the G subway stop – its nearest mass transit site, and link to the rest of the borough.
It would be interactive art. The gates under the roadway would react to whatever sound is around it, particularly the roadways overhead and on the sides, with lights intensifying depending on what the computer processes.
The Artist Build Collaborative is working with the local group Red Hook Initiative, as well as the IT firm Control Group, on the project, both of which will use the project as part of their efforts to educate and inspire an interest in design, technology, and physical computing in local teenagers.
They have already completed their first prototype gate, which cost about $5,000.
You may notice the design of the gates has changed since the beginning of the year. That was done to comply with a request from a New York City Department of Transportation structural engineer and to reduce cost.
The project is the brainchild of the Artist Build Collective, which is still trying to secure funding. Right now, they have $14,800 in funding from the New York City DOT, the Brooklyn Arts Council, the Awesome Foundation, and the Designers Lighting Forum of New York (DLFNY).
But they need about $20,000 to complete the project, and every dollar helps.
So, they are holding a fundraiser on Thursday, September 20 at 7 p.m. at the Green Building, 425 Union Street. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased here.
There will be hors d'oeuvres from Dish Food & Events, beer from Six Point Brewery, and sangria from Dry Dock Wine + Spirits, plus prizes from Brooklyn Bowl, The Good Fork, Saipua, Fat Cat Wines, Brooklyn Winery, Steve's Key Lime, and more.
"'Silent Lights' is a project that takes a busy intersection in Red Hook and puts a light installation that makes it safer," said project member Michelle Brick.
LINK: Artist Build Collective
