Walter De Maria, The New York Earth Room
141 Wooster Street, New York
Walter De Maria, The New York Earth Room, 1977. © Estate of Walter De Maria. Photo: John Cliett
Overview
Wednesday–Sunday
12–3 pm and 3:30–6 pm
Admission is free.
An interior earth sculpture.
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)
The New York Earth Room (1977) is the third Earth Room sculpture executed by the artist, the first being in Munich in 1968. The second was installed at the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt, West Germany, in 1974. The first two works no longer exist.
The New York Earth Room has been on long-term view to the public since 1977. This work was commissioned and is maintained by Dia Art Foundation.
The New York Earth Room is closed on Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, December 31, and January 1.
Photography is not permitted.
The New York Earth Room is located on the second floor and is accessible by stairs or elevator; the gallery entrance is preceded by a stair. A ramp is available on request; inform the caretaker on arrival by intercom or in advance by calling 646 869 6180 during opening hours.
An illustrated brochure about the site is available below.
The New York Earth Room is located on the second floor and is accessible by stairs or elevator. The gallery entrance is preceded by a stair and a ramp is available on request; inform the caretaker on arrival by intercom or in advance by calling 646 869 6810 during opening hours.
ADA service dogs are welcome. Pets, including therapy or emotional-support animals, are not permitted in the galleries.
Dia Art Foundation maintains 12 locations and sites across the United States and Germany, four of which are long-term installations by Walter De Maria. The American artist began to create work outside the traditional gallery space in the late 1960s, presenting his Mile Long Drawing in 1968 in California’s Mojave Desert. Beginning in the mid-1970s, Dia Art Foundation commissioned some of the artist’s most significant site-specific works, including The Lightning Field (1977) in western New Mexico, and The New York Earth Room (1977) and The Broken Kilometer (1979) in New York. Dia continues to maintain these works as well as De Maria’s The Vertical Earth Kilometer (1977) in Kassel, Germany, which is the companion piece to The Broken Kilometer.
Dia is pleased to share this film highlighting the work of Walter De Maria in celebration of our 50th anniversary.
Support provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies
Video: SandenWolff
Interviews: Rachel Wolff and Noah Therrien
Story editor: Rachel Wolff
Filming: Noah Therrien, Jonathan Sanden, Lyle Shanahan, and Nate Reininga
Video editor: Stephen Parnigoni
Assistant editor: Hannah Kaylor
Music: Noah Therrien
Dia Art Foundation staff
Producers: Katherine Ellis and Dan Wolfe
Rights and reproduction: Jenn Kane
Copy editor: Karen Rasaby
Proofreader: Svetlana Kitto
Archivist: Amye McCarther
Oral history coordinator: Lee Colón
Oral history interviews: Matilde Guidelli-Guidi and Amye McCarther
Production assistant: Claire O’Neill
Typesetting: Fernando Zelaya
Director of communications: Hannah Gompertz
Head of marketing: Dani Chin
Director of publications: Kamilah N. Foreman
Special thanks to Elizabeth Childress and the Estate of Walter De Maria
Additional thanks to Bill Dilworth, Patti Dilworth, Heiner Friedrich, Kim Kalberg, Robert Weathers, and Helen Winkler Fosdick
© 2025 Dia Art Foundation
Artist
Walter De Maria
Walter De Maria was born in Albany, California, in 1935. He died in Los Angeles in 2013.
Related Sites
Walter De Maria, The Lightning Field
Walter De Maria, The Broken Kilometer
Walter De Maria, The Vertical Earth Kilometer
Books
Artists on Walter De Maria
Artists on Walter De Maria is the second installment in a series culled from Dia Art Foundation’s Artists on Artists lectures, focused on the work of artist Walter De Maria. It features contributions from Richard Aldrich, Jeanne Dunning, Guillermo Faivovich and Nicolás Goldberg, and Terry Winters.
Walter De Maria: The New York Earth Room Poster
Full-color offset poster Created to celebrate the public opening of Walter De Maria’s The New York Earth Room on January 1, 1980.