The Subway Above Ground
145 St
The following piece simulates a full ride on the B 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
- Brighton Beach $21,111 approx. median household income
- Sheepshead Bay $49,741 approx. median household income
- Neck Rd $65,326 approx. median household income
- Avenue U $43,733 approx. median household income
- Kings Hwy $50,469 approx. median household income
- Avenue M $38,002 approx. median household income
- Avenue J $57,493 approx. median household income
- Avenue H $73,615 approx. median household income
- Newkirk Plaza $59,440 approx. median household income
- Cortelyou Rd $52,451 approx. median household income
- Beverley Rd $74,252 approx. median household income
- Church Av $49,244 approx. median household income
- Parkside Av $50,242 approx. median household income
- Prospect Park $62,035 approx. median household income
- 7 Av $123,690 approx. median household income
- Atlantic Av - Barclays Ctr $81,438 approx. median household income
- DeKalb Av $121,151 approx. median household income
- Grand St $51,474 approx. median household income
- Broadway-Lafayette St $95,427 approx. median household income
- W 4 St $121,201 approx. median household income
- 34 St - Herald Sq $112,466 approx. median household income
- 42 St - Bryant Pk $125,649 approx. median household income
- 47-50 Sts - Rockefeller Ctr $132,075 approx. median household income
- 7 Av $109,324 approx. median household income
- 59 St - Columbus Circle $154,659 approx. median household income
- 72 St $144,752 approx. median household income
- 81 St - Museum of Natural History $129,760 approx. median household income
- 86 St $123,533 approx. median household income
- 96 St $105,993 approx. median household income
- 103 St $31,283 approx. median household income
- Cathedral Pkwy (110 St) $64,833 approx. median household income
- 116 St $63,745 approx. median household income
- 125 St $51,490 approx. median household income
- 135 St $50,787 approx. median household income
- 145 St $45,178 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.