Atlas of Landscapes in a Room

INS 032 The New York Earth Room Walter de Maria 1977

Header image:
© John Cliett, The Estate of
Walter De Maria

Text: Elena Martinique | Widerhalls Magazine

„The dirt (or earth) is there not only to be seen but to be thought about.”
Walter de Maria

250 cubic yards of earth (197 cubic meters)
3.600 square feet of floor space (335 square meters)
22 inch depth of material (56 centimeters)
Total weight of sculpture: 280.000 lbs. (127.300 kilos)

In a big loft amidst the consumer chaos of Soho, in a city of New York where people are money crazed and desperate for space, there is a huge space filled with dirt, standing unchanged since the late 1970s. In the bright lights of New York, the Earth Room remains a quiet sanctuary that forces you to experience rather than grasp. Profound in its mass, it draws the viewer in, offering a place where one can get a sense of expanse and be reminded of the horizon. Barely announcing its presence to those on the street, it also reminds us how nice it is when things don’t change.
Upon entering the gallery, one can feel the rich smell of soil and sense the warm humidity of the air. The installation spans three gallery rooms, while a knee-high sheet of Plexiglas boxes off the viewing area, allowing you to see how deep the dirt is.

Previously working within Minimalist and Conceptualist structures, he [Walter de Maria] became involved in the emerging Land Art movement in the late 1960s, searching for a diverse contextual language between art and the natural environment. Developing a conceptual approach to earth-based works, he both used the landscape as an immersive canvas in large-scale land works and brought nature into the gallery space.