Two Free Art Installations Hidden in SoHo: A Room of Earth and 500 Brass Rods

On the second floor at 141 Wooster Street, one loft holds 250 cubic yards of earth, 22 inches deep, spread across 3,600 square feet. Walter De Maria made the piece in 1977, and Dia commissioned it and still maintains it. A rail runs along the entry, and the dirt beyond it is off-limits. The smell reaches you before the scale does. Ten minutes is enough. Doors run 12:00–3:00 PM and 3:30–6:00 PM, Wednesday to Sunday, with a half-hour break at three.

At 393 West Broadway, 500 polished brass rods lie in five rows of 100 on the ground floor. Each rod is two meters long and five centimeters across, and laid end to end the set would cover 3,280 feet. The gap between rods widens by five millimeters from front to back, from 80 to 580 millimeters, under lights that cover the 45-by-125-foot floor. The spacing is the work. Visitors get close enough to see the seams in the brass, though the rods are not for touching. Three steps at the entrance mean there is no step-free way in.

The two rooms sit two blocks apart, a five-minute walk door to door. Prince Street on the R and W lines is four minutes from Wooster Street; Spring Street on the C and E is four minutes from West Broadway, which leaves either end as a workable start. Earth room first, brass second. Plan around the half hour from 3:00 to 3:30 PM, and note that Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, December 31 and January 1 close both sites.