The Subway Above Ground
Flatbush Av - Brooklyn College
The following piece simulates a full ride on the 5 line of the NYC subway, where the quantity and power of the instruments at any given moment in the song correspond to the median household income of the neighborhood that you are passing through.
Instructions: if you would like to experience this offline and on a subway ride, download the media file via the button below the video. Once you start to play the file, find your station (you can use the track listing on this page as a guide), and listen to the song in the background as you ride the subway. The result is a meditative piece in which the dramatic contrasts of a song echo the dramatic differences of income in the city.
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*Right click or long-press the button above and select "download link..." to save to your device
Track Listing
- Eastchester - Dyre Av $75,349 approx. median household income
- Baychester Av $37,225 approx. median household income
- Gun Hill Rd $59,377 approx. median household income
- Pelham Pkwy $62,699 approx. median household income
- Morris Park $61,506 approx. median household income
- E 180 St $30,991 approx. median household income
- West Farms Sq - E Tremont Av $23,681 approx. median household income
- 174 St $16,022 approx. median household income
- Freeman St $30,671 approx. median household income
- Simpson St $19,133 approx. median household income
- Intervale Av $24,978 approx. median household income
- Prospect Av $31,483 approx. median household income
- Jackson Av $26,624 approx. median household income
- 3 Av - 149 St $22,239 approx. median household income
- 149 St - Grand Concourse $22,988 approx. median household income
- 138 St - Grand Concourse $19,501 approx. median household income
- 125 St $19,063 approx. median household income
- 86 St $150,093 approx. median household income
- 59 St $144,416 approx. median household income
- Grand Central - 42 St $120,923 approx. median household income
- 14 St - Union Sq $157,795 approx. median household income
- Brooklyn Bridge - City Hall $147,804 approx. median household income
- Fulton St $189,224 approx. median household income
- Wall St $141,658 approx. median household income
- Bowling Green $150,158 approx. median household income
- Borough Hall $151,919 approx. median household income
- Nevins St $113,941 approx. median household income
- Franklin Av $61,022 approx. median household income
- President St $49,414 approx. median household income
- Sterling St $52,864 approx. median household income
- Winthrop St $43,624 approx. median household income
- Church Av $41,262 approx. median household income
- Beverly Rd $44,697 approx. median household income
- Newkirk Av $47,074 approx. median household income
- Flatbush Av - Brooklyn College $58,775 approx. median household income
Created by Brian Foo using Median household income by census tract, 2017 ACS 5-year estimates (B19013) and MTA subway station data. Code is open source. This piece is part of the 2021 Data Through Design: Ground Truth Exhibition. You can also visit this piece's sister project that turns this same data into a 3D interactive map.