The Subway Above Ground
Pelham Bay Park
The following piece simulates a full ride on the 6 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
- Brooklyn Bridge - City Hall $147,804 approx. median household income
- Canal St $130,421 approx. median household income
- Spring St $93,477 approx. median household income
- Bleecker St $124,907 approx. median household income
- Astor Pl $141,619 approx. median household income
- 14 St - Union Sq $157,795 approx. median household income
- 23 St $124,227 approx. median household income
- 28 St $128,862 approx. median household income
- 33 St $119,817 approx. median household income
- Grand Central - 42 St $120,923 approx. median household income
- 51 St $113,182 approx. median household income
- 59 St $144,416 approx. median household income
- 68 St - Hunter College $184,551 approx. median household income
- 77 St $159,700 approx. median household income
- 86 St $150,093 approx. median household income
- 96 St $110,442 approx. median household income
- 103 St $38,498 approx. median household income
- 110 St $42,914 approx. median household income
- 116 St $23,892 approx. median household income
- 125 St $19,063 approx. median household income
- 3 Av - 138 St $17,601 approx. median household income
- Brook Av $24,929 approx. median household income
- Cypress Av $14,024 approx. median household income
- E 143 St - St Mary's St $37,069 approx. median household income
- E 149 St $34,333 approx. median household income
- Longwood Av $29,001 approx. median household income
- Hunts Point Av $23,614 approx. median household income
- Whitlock Av $21,524 approx. median household income
- Elder Av $28,601 approx. median household income
- Morrison Av- Sound View $29,517 approx. median household income
- St Lawrence Av $34,224 approx. median household income
- Parkchester $43,923 approx. median household income
- Castle Hill Av $46,976 approx. median household income
- Zerega Av $35,005 approx. median household income
- Westchester Sq - E Tremont Av $36,373 approx. median household income
- Middletown Rd $56,070 approx. median household income
- Buhre Av $52,673 approx. median household income
- Pelham Bay Park $52,049 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.