Two miles from Robert Smithson’s large spiral jetty, is an even larger spiral jetty. One is art, about land use and geographic history, and the epic interference with the land. It is a masterpeice, dependent on the rise and fall of the great salt lake. One is about allowing oil exploration equipment into the middle of the road. There is no oil in the great salt lake.
The thing is, that Smithson has gotten huge press lately, a bunch of articles, books, travelling shows, etc dealing with the aniversary of the project. He refuses to acknowledge the twin, barely 10 miles away. His ego and his presence only allows for the creation sui genris.
I think its a better idea to think of it as another (larger) example of how the creation of industry twins the creation of art, esp, in the 20th century.