The free public screening of The Story of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway on June 17th at 6:30pm is SOLD OUT. You can now register to be placed on the STANDBY line here. All attendees on the standby line must be registered, no walk-ins will be accepted.

How it works:

1. Register on this page to add yourself to the standby line.

2. Arrive to the event venue at 6:15pm and check-in. You will be directed to the standby line.

3. If space becomes available, you will be able to enter the event. We cannot guarantee entry, but will do our best to accommodate as many registered standby attendees as possible.

Learn more about this project here.

The Story of the BQE

A Documentary about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway by Adam Paul Susaneck of Segregation by Design

Join us on June 17th at 6:30pm for the first public screening of The Story of the BQE. This event is free and open to the public.

The Story of the BQE

The Story of the BQE is a documentary tracing the history of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) by Adam Paul Susaneck of Segregation by Design and produced by the Institute for Public Architecture (IPA) and NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate. Using archival footage and photography, this 30 minute mini-documentary shows how the construction of the 35-mile-long BQE demolished historic neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, divided communities, and displaced hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers across the two boroughs. The screening will include a brief Q&A with Adam Paul Susaneck as well as audio excepts from The Story of the BQE oral history project. This event is free and open to the public with registration. Refreshments will be served.

It’s now been 70 years since the highway was completed and its age is showing. Now is the perfect time to reimagine the BQE and repair the damage it continues to inflict on the community.

-Segregation by Design

The Story of the BQE documentary is part of an ongoing project by the IPA, in partnership with the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate, to create an online repository of intergenerational interviews with people living near the BQE. Led by StoryCorps veterans Mitra Bonshahi and Adriana Gallardo, the IPA is partnering with Brooklyn and Queens-based youth organizations to provide opportunities for those impacted by the BQE to preserve memories of their lives, community, and stories of living near the highway.

Segregation by Design

Adam Paul Susaneck is the founder of Segregation by Design (SBD), a project using data and remastered historical photography to document the destruction of communities of color in cities across the United States. Adam has a Masters in Architecture from Columbia University and is pursuing a Ph.D in architecture and the built environment at the Delft University of Technology. 

The IPA

The Institute for Public Architecture, based in the historic Block House on Governors Island, uses design to address social, physical, and environmental inequities in the city through its signature Selected Topic Fellowship and Independent Project Residency programs, and related public lectures, symposia, exhibits, and publications.  For more information, contact: info@the-ipa.org.

Support 

The project is supported, in part, by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts; by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate; and private donations.