The Subway Above Ground
Coney Island - Stillwell Av
The following piece simulates a full ride on the N 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
- Astoria - Ditmars Blvd $72,524 approx. median household income
- Astoria Blvd $73,334 approx. median household income
- 30 Av $72,280 approx. median household income
- Broadway $80,786 approx. median household income
- 36 Av $53,582 approx. median household income
- 39 Av $54,125 approx. median household income
- Queensboro Plaza $104,463 approx. median household income
- Lexington Av/59 St $151,446 approx. median household income
- 5 Av/59 St $147,673 approx. median household income
- 57 St - 7 Av $146,519 approx. median household income
- 49 St $141,857 approx. median household income
- Times Sq - 42 St $96,467 approx. median household income
- 34 St - Herald Sq $110,430 approx. median household income
- 14 St - Union Sq $158,685 approx. median household income
- Canal St $126,972 approx. median household income
- Atlantic Av - Barclays Ctr $105,691 approx. median household income
- 36 St $51,217 approx. median household income
- 59 St $34,986 approx. median household income
- 8 Av $31,599 approx. median household income
- Fort Hamilton Pkwy $45,905 approx. median household income
- New Utrecht Av $54,524 approx. median household income
- 18 Av $50,380 approx. median household income
- 20 Av $47,083 approx. median household income
- Bay Pkwy $48,391 approx. median household income
- Kings Hwy $49,351 approx. median household income
- Avenue U $60,837 approx. median household income
- 86 St $34,878 approx. median household income
- Coney Island - Stillwell Av $46,157 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.