"The Broken Kilometer"

Before Soho was a magnet for high-end chain stores and the shoppers who love them, it was a home to artists. That spirit is preserved in the renowned American sculptor Walter De Maria's installation, which has been lovingly attended to by the Dia Art Foundation since the late 1970s. The Broken Kilometer consists of five rows of 100 polished brass rods which would cover the titular distance if all 500 segments were placed end to end. They're testaments to a time when Soho was still a frontier, and art provided the wide open spaces.