The New York Earth Room

Commissioned by the Dia Art Foundation and maintained continuously since 1977, the installation spreads across 3,600 square feet of floor space at a depth of 22 inches.

The encounter is purely observational. Visitors take in the scent and expanse from a single restricted viewing area, as walking on or touching the dirt is prohibited. It remains a strange, conversation-provoking conceptual work, though the physical experience is limited entirely to standing at the perimeter and looking.