The Subway Above Ground
Coney Island - Stillwell Av
The following piece simulates a full ride on the Q 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
- 96 St $78,308 approx. median household income
- 86 St $106,962 approx. median household income
- 72 St $134,119 approx. median household income
- Lexington Av/63 St $164,045 approx. median household income
- 57 St - 7 Av $146,519 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
- DeKalb Av $121,151 approx. median household income
- Atlantic Av - Barclays Ctr $81,438 approx. median household income
- 7 Av $123,690 approx. median household income
- Prospect Park $62,035 approx. median household income
- Parkside Av $50,242 approx. median household income
- Church Av $49,244 approx. median household income
- Beverley Rd $74,252 approx. median household income
- Cortelyou Rd $52,451 approx. median household income
- Newkirk Plaza $59,440 approx. median household income
- Avenue H $73,615 approx. median household income
- Avenue J $57,493 approx. median household income
- Avenue M $38,002 approx. median household income
- Kings Hwy $50,469 approx. median household income
- Avenue U $43,733 approx. median household income
- Neck Rd $65,326 approx. median household income
- Sheepshead Bay $49,741 approx. median household income
- Brighton Beach $21,111 approx. median household income
- Ocean Pkwy $29,713 approx. median household income
- W 8 St - NY Aquarium $41,485 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.