The New York Earth Room — Attraction in New York

You climb the stairs at 141 Wooster and the smell of soil hits you before anything else. Three thousand six hundred square feet filled with two hundred fifty cubic yards of earth, twenty two inches deep. A quarter of a football field of dirt stacked inside a loft, and it has been there since 1977, more than forty years of stubborn anti real estate protest.

It is the third Earth Room by Walter De Maria and the only one left. The others in Munich and Darmstadt are gone. This one stayed. Dia Art Foundation opened it to the public in 1980 and has kept it alive ever since.

The caretaker Bill Dilworth worked here for thirty four years, starting in 1989 with only a photo of the original arrangement. He watered and raked it daily with ritual precision. He saw mushrooms sprout, dragonflies hatch from the soil, and once found a can of black beans tossed in. He simply raked it back to flat.

The artist never explained it, so whatever you think when you look at the dirt is the meaning. Stand there long enough and the sound of the city outside starts to feel wrong. By the time you walk back down the stairs you miss the quiet, the smell, and the sense that maybe the most radical thing you can do in New York is fill a room with dirt and...

O3/2025- finally went back and found it! It wasn’t too hard to find when you circle around the area and ask around. It was amazing! I did not book an appointment, I came on a random Thursday even, buzzed in and wait to be accept in the building, walked up a flight of stairs to access the main lobby & the woman at the desk was nice. It’s such a nice quiet space to relax and just think to yourself. Smells pretty fresh in here, one thing I noticed and liked. I would definitely recommend and I would come back even though I’ve been already.

————- 11/2024- Impossible to find. I went to the address and there seemed to be nothing there, even the delivery people outside seemed confused. Hope to visit again and find the entrance when I come...

I'm not sure how to summarize something so profound in a Google review...

The NY Earth room is a treasure to those that are in need of a thought provoking experience.

The longevity of this project and the dedication of its caretakers is quite impressive on their own.

Thank you to those that dwell in the land of creation, for its inside of creation that we as humans reach a higher plane of existence. Our world is now lacking the freedom to engage in creativity for so many. Our world rewards the opposite of creativity. I know that this exhibit can be a source of fuel to ignite a spark that could enrage a fire for the soul. Go and see for yourself, and then see what...