Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Video: Group Wants To Install "Silent Lights" Underneath The BQE
By
Jen Carlson
Published Dec 21, 2011
Modified Dec 21, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Carlson
Published Dec 21, 2011
Modified Dec 21, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
There have been grand ideas about cleaning up the BQE in the past, but so far only Sufjan Stevens has managed to help its image at all. Now the Artists Build Collaborative is going to give it a shot, and after winning a $5,000 grant from the NYC Department of Transportation, they've just launched a Kickstarter campaign to further help their mission out. The group hopes to bring an interactive, and colorful installation, called Silent Lights, to the Red Hook section of the roadway.
They explain, "It is a project that takes large amounts of traffic noise at a busy intersection in Brooklyn, New York and repurposes it into an incredible, interactive light installation. Silent Lights is an architectural series of gates that frames a pedestrian pathway by day showing constant movement through shadows. It transforms sound into patterns of light at night as it mimics movement with led lights, reflecting and interpreting movement and sound. There are no blind spots, the path is always lit and each gate responds to create a dynamic installation. Cars drive by, microphones pick up the sound from traffic, a computer processes the sound and triggers each gate to light up sequentially. As noise increases, the light from each gate intensifies."
Beneath the BQE, especially in Red Hook, can get pretty dark—so we fully support this... even if we're still holding out for a Venice-style canal.
Tagged
art
bqe
installation
kickstarter
red hook
silent lights
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Owl pellets and period equity: What's happening at NYC's public libraries this November
Also: Books!
By
Alec Hamilton
Published Oct 29, 2026 at 4:00 a.m. ET
How the Village Halloween Parade keeps its soul
A visit to the community-driven pre-parade puppet preparations.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Arts & Entertainment
How the Village Halloween Parade keeps its soul
A visit to the community-driven pre-parade puppet preparations.
By
Hannah Frishberg
'You Can See Everything' … as long as you go to Staten Island
By
Sonia Rao
Inside the hidden chamber that controls Lincoln Center's magnificent fountain
By
Sonia Rao
In the algorithm age, NYC college radio DJs are still broadcasting the funky stuff
By
James Ramsay
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .