The Subway Above Ground
Middle Village - Metropolitan Av
The following piece simulates a full ride on the M 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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Track Listing
- Forest Hills - 71 Av $79,987 approx. median household income
- 67 Av $65,628 approx. median household income
- 63 Dr - Rego Park $57,449 approx. median household income
- Woodhaven Blvd $54,318 approx. median household income
- Grand Av - Newtown $54,477 approx. median household income
- Elmhurst Av $41,726 approx. median household income
- Jackson Hts - Roosevelt Av $57,631 approx. median household income
- 65 St $57,582 approx. median household income
- Northern Blvd $66,014 approx. median household income
- 46 St $55,833 approx. median household income
- Steinway St $54,185 approx. median household income
- 36 St $57,896 approx. median household income
- Queens Plaza $94,869 approx. median household income
- Court Sq $129,439 approx. median household income
- Lexington Av/53 St $120,954 approx. median household income
- 5 Av/53 St $160,264 approx. median household income
- 47-50 Sts - Rockefeller Ctr $132,075 approx. median household income
- 42 St - Bryant Pk $125,649 approx. median household income
- 34 St - Herald Sq $112,466 approx. median household income
- 23 St $158,478 approx. median household income
- 14 St $139,269 approx. median household income
- W 4 St $121,201 approx. median household income
- Broadway-Lafayette St $95,427 approx. median household income
- Essex St $42,607 approx. median household income
- Marcy Av $37,828 approx. median household income
- Hewes St $44,519 approx. median household income
- Lorimer St $38,980 approx. median household income
- Flushing Av $81,352 approx. median household income
- Myrtle Av $35,566 approx. median household income
- Central Av $62,172 approx. median household income
- Knickerbocker Av $61,057 approx. median household income
- Myrtle - Wyckoff Avs $52,951 approx. median household income
- Seneca Av $56,816 approx. median household income
- Forest Av $54,733 approx. median household income
- Fresh Pond Rd $66,454 approx. median household income
- Middle Village - Metropolitan Av $71,458 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.