Rats in the City: A Halloween Costume Contest on the 6 Train Platform at 51st and Lexington, NYC

The closing event of the Archtober x Data Vandals newsstand takeover is a Halloween costume competition with a rat theme. It runs Friday, October 30, from 7 to 9 p.m. on the downtown 6 train platform at East 51st Street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. The Center for Architecture, which is run by AIA New York, organizes it with Data Vandals.

The announcement promises rat experts, rat enthusiasts "and maybe a couple of rats." Two experts are named. Danny Hernandez has worked for the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation for 28 years, starting in 1998 as a Playground Associate. He now manages the Manhattan Boro Crews division, which includes the Pest Management team and the Citywide Street Tree Rodent Mitigation team. Suzanne Reisman leads a walking tour on garbage and rats in New York history. She also wrote a book called Off the Beaten (Subway) Track. More experts are to be announced.

The venue is the Data Vandals Newsstand, a former subway kiosk. Artist Jen Ray and data visualization designer Jason Forrest, who work together as Data Vandals, have run it since April under the MTA's Vacant Unit Activation Program. Their exterior murals are read by roughly 52,000 riders a day. One of them features Ratsy, a six-foot-tall rat mascot who offers facts about the 6 train stops. In the Archtober schedule graphic, the rat says it is "25 feet under the street."

Archtober is New York City's month-long architecture and design festival, held October 1 to 31 this year. The newsstand collaboration is a first for the festival, and it has included film screenings and an Open House New York weekend session. The costume competition is the last item on the schedule.

Admission is free for AIANY members, students with valid ID and the general public. Registration is through the Center for Architecture's event page. The newsstand is also open on Fridays and Sundays from 3 to 6 p.m.