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. 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. The new york earth room 1977 is the third earth room sculpture executed by the artist the first being in munich germany in 1968. The new york earth room has been on long term view to the public since 1977.

The first two works no longer exist. Cc by nc 2 0 by c monster. S new york earth room 1977 in soho on a recent friday evening. 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.

On long term view to the public since 1980 the new york earth room is one of his seminal pieces. 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. The second was installed at the hessisches landesmuseum in darmstadt germany in 1974.