For Soil Installation, In Dia Space Since 1980, Traffic Is Up

“The scent of soil arrested my nostrils as I stepped into ‘The New York Earth Room’ in Manhattan’s trendy SoHo district. Before me: a fortune in indoor floor space tied up with nothing more than 280,000 pounds of loamy dirt. … Perhaps that is how [Walter] De Maria seeks to change the world: by clearing out unexpected spaces where our imagination might grow.”