Have Your Stories Shared in an Art Installation at Brooklyn’s Oldest Theater

Brooklyn’s Alpine Cinemas, the borough’s oldest movie theater, will soon be home to two site-specific installations by Untapped New York’s Artist-in-Residence Aaron Asis. Phase one of the installation is already on view beneath the marquee. Once you step beneath the sign, you’re transported to 1940s Bay Ridge. This summer, phase two of the installation will be unveiled and your stories can be part of it!

Alpine: Under the Marquee is a site-specific installation that will be in view both outside of and inside the theater. The exterior installation features a black-and-white photograph of Alpine Cinemas and the businesses that surrounded it in 1941. Pulled from archives of the New York Transit Museum archives, the image shows 5th Avenue from the corner of Bay Ridge Avenue. You can see a vintage car, a woman walking her dog, a lady pushing a baby stroller, a man in a hat, and other Brooklynites going about their day during the golden age of the theater.

For phase two Under the Marquee project, Aaron will design a second mural for the interior of Brooklyn’s oldest theater in collaboration with Bay Ridge residents. The mural will include quotes from community members, and your quote may be featured.

If you would like to be a part of Aaron’s project please share a couple of sentences about what makes Bay Ridge special to you — include your name, age, and current neighborhood — and send them to Aaron at info@unforgottenfilms.com. Your words may become part of a permanent installation inside the Alpine Cinema — and all works will become part of a printed publication to celebrate the Alpine and Bay Bridge communities.

Aaron’s installation is part of Bay Ridge Through an Ecological Lens, an interactive, public, community art exhibition featuring artists from the New York area. On June 8th, Stand4 Gallery in collaboration with ecoartspace will take host a film festival at Alpine Cinemas as part of the exhibition.

Films that will be screened at the festival include: By Way of Canarsie by Emily Packer and Lesley Steele, City TREES by Kristin Reiber Harris, Triboro by Nate Dorr, Urban Growth by Nate Dorr and Nathan Kensinger, The Whelming Sea by Sean Hanley, Unforgotten Films: Hart Island by Aaron Asis, and Underground Sound Project by Jenny Schweitzer Bell. You can purchase tickets here.

Next, check out The Forgotten Theaters of Brooklyn