The BQE Project is a massive multi media explosion by talent-ridden, overachiever Sufjan Stevens.
Hit the jump for a lot more…
To give you a bit of backstory; Stevens was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music to do a piece for the Next Wave festival. Sufjan decided to tackle The Brooklyn Queens Expressway because of its underdog persona as a monument of the area.
The BQE itself is an urban expressway built over the course of several decades, (1939-1964) led by the master architect Robert Moses.
The roadway was a painstaking piecemeal project, poorly planned, badly built, and relentlessly encumbered by the obstacles of the era.
The resulting expressway has become one of Brooklyn’s most notable icons of urban blight. And, for Sufjan Stevens, an object of unmitigated inspiration.
photo by NY portraits.
Stevens began by conceptualizing a musical piece, but caught up in the project and the inspiration behind it, he found himself creating something bigger. Primarily driving The BQE is a short film, shot on 16mm film. An accompanying album of the same name follows the lead of the 50 minute film. Complimenting the structure and timing of the film.
In the midst of the project Stevens said no to no nothing. Using whatever came to mind to flesh out his story on Moses’ highway. It’s the type of creativity we should all aspire to.
Together with the film and it’s original score, Sufjan put together a comic book telling the story of his own mythical hoop girls – Guardians of the BQE, as well as a view-master stereoscopic reel, a photographic essay and a liner written essay covering the political ideas that he had about the iconic highway and it’s controversial history.
Sufjan Stevens. Photo by Danny Renshaw.
The BQE was performed in the Howard Gilman Opera House in celebration of the 25th anniversary Next Wave Festival in October of 2007. The BQE screens Saturday, October 24th, and Sunday, October 25th 2009, at the 92Y Tribeca.
The album is available now. It definitely shows off Stevens’ skill as a classical composer, shying away from his indie-folk reputation. The album is reminiscent of musical stories like Peter and the Wolf.
Grabbing the double CD Album with net you most of Sufjan’s project in a neat package. I would definitely recommend it if your a fan, and if your keen to get to know more about this bane of brooklyn.
Give it a listen before hand if you are not familiar with Sufjan Stevens – he is one of the most diverse and talented musicians to date, and a difficult one not to like!
Thanks to Asmatic Kitty & Jack Palmer of Bomblog.
This entry was written by , posted on November 6, 2009 at 11:32 am, filed under America, album, film., music., travel. and tagged America, Art, Brooklyn, Brooklynn, Culture, new york, sufjan stevens, the bqe. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
