The Subway Above Ground
Inwood - 207 St
The following piece simulates a full ride on the A 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.
Download this video*
*Right click or long-press the button above and select "download link..." to save to your device
Track Listing
- Ozone Park - Lefferts Blvd $65,110 approx. median household income
- 111 St $67,180 approx. median household income
- 104 St $53,773 approx. median household income
- Rockaway Blvd $82,422 approx. median household income
- 88 St $62,404 approx. median household income
- 80 St $55,163 approx. median household income
- Grant Av $36,720 approx. median household income
- Euclid Av $33,420 approx. median household income
- Broadway Jct $50,861 approx. median household income
- Utica Av $52,616 approx. median household income
- Nostrand Av $47,787 approx. median household income
- Hoyt - Schermerhorn $132,964 approx. median household income
- Jay St - MetroTech $127,223 approx. median household income
- High St $103,558 approx. median household income
- Fulton St $201,436 approx. median household income
- Chambers St $247,067 approx. median household income
- Canal St $174,519 approx. median household income
- W 4 St $121,201 approx. median household income
- 14 St $106,817 approx. median household income
- 34 St - Penn Station $126,635 approx. median household income
- 42 St - Port Authority Bus Terminal $89,492 approx. median household income
- 59 St - Columbus Circle $154,659 approx. median household income
- 125 St $51,490 approx. median household income
- 145 St $45,178 approx. median household income
- 168 St $32,626 approx. median household income
- 175 St $50,247 approx. median household income
- 181 St $75,584 approx. median household income
- 190 St $86,861 approx. median household income
- Dyckman St $62,722 approx. median household income
- Inwood - 207 St $53,366 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.