Camilla Schmidt's Favourite Black

New York this summer gave me 2 very special black things one of them is of pure materialistic value a black Givenchy dress. My absolute favourite black though, consists of 197 cubic meters of black dirt, a pure and very special experience of a conceptual art sculpture. ‘The New York Earth Room’ by Walter De Maria is my favourite black.

‘The New York Earth Room’ interior sculpture was created in 1977 and the black dirt has been there ever since.
At the entrance of a typical industrial building in SoHo you buzz the door at ‘Earth Room’. Up the stairs a black field of earth lays in silence and appears to great bemusement. Walter De Maria never made a statement about this artwork, in that way nobody tells you what to think or expect.  Pure and personal perception is what you are left with, you can look at the black earth surrounded by the white cube as long as you want but you are not allowed to walk on it nor photograph it.
One man welcomes you at a desk when you enter he is the caretaker, which means he is watering and raking the field each week. A very special job at a very special place.

A quiet view in busy New York.