New York Earth Room Walter De Maria

The work simply involves 250 cubic yards of pungent fertile dirt on the floor located on the second floor of a building on wooster street.

New york earth room walter de maria.

Bridging multiple movements of artistic practice that blossomed in the 1960s walter de maria challenged art in profound ways a vanguard force within several major 20th century art movements he sought to connect the viewer and nature through a range of interactive sculptural installations. The sculpture is a permanent installation of 250 cubic yards 197 cubic meters of earth in 3 600 335 square meters square feet of floor space and 22 inch depth of material 56 centimeters. The second was installed at the hessisches landesmuseum in darmstadt germany in 1974. Up on the 2nd floor of a wooster street loft building the new york earth room by walter de maria bides its time with hardly a building placard to announce its presence among the retail shops of soho.

The new york earth room has been on long term view to the public since 1977. Though consummately of the art world and maintained in pretty much its current state since 1980 by the dia art foundation cursory internet searches on it mostly produce hits geared to nyc. Walter de maria the new york earth room 1977 197 m 250 yd earth 335 m2 3 600 sqft floor space 56 cm 22 in depth of material 127 300 kg 280 000 lb 141 wooster street new york city photo. On long term view to the public since 1980 the new york earth room is one of his seminal pieces.

The first two works no longer exist. S new york earth room 1977 in soho on a recent friday evening. Gazing out at the 3 600 square foot installation visitors might be enticed to trample the earth but a two foot tall glass partition prevents them from doing so.