[2] The work is installed in Kassel, Germany, in Friedrichsplatz Park in front of the Fridericianum,[2] and has no label or plaque marking it as artwork or explaining what it is.

[1] When viewing the top of the artwork, the only part visible from above ground, Ella Morton, a reporter for Slate magazine said "it looks like a coin that’s been dropped, forgotten, and trodden on over several decades,"[3] and Ken Jennings of Condé Nast Traveler notes that the work resembles a Kilometre zero marker seen in many European countries.

"[4] Documenta also notes that The Vertical Earth Kilometer is a piece of Minimal, Conceptual, and Land art, the three "significant artistic strategies of the period.

[4] A Texas oil company was hired by De Maria,[1] under the direction and supervision of the Kassel-based engineering firm of Hans Jurgen Pickel,[2] to install the artwork.

[1] The Vertical Earth Kilometer has been on permanent public display since it was installed in 1977,[2] and is maintained by the Dia Art Foundation as one of the eleven locations and sites they manage.