Mirror Displacement (Smithson)

Below is an image of broken glass laying on the desert floor. This particular bit of glass is located next to Morman Mesa Road as it leads up to Michael Heizer's Double Negative. And, as I drove past this glass I thought it was a mirror because it reflected the sky very well. My mind was immediately drawn back to the reflections in the saline crystals at the Spiral Jetty and to Robert Smithson in general. In his work Yucatan Mirror Displacements, Smithson lays small pieces of mirror in various places, covered and uncovered, throughout South America. By laying a mirror into the sand Smithson brings a little bit of sky down to earth, compressing the distance between.
But, the thing that strikes me most about this spider web of broken glass in the desert is the arbitrary placement beside a dirt road leading to nowhere. In fact, broken shards of glass and mirror littler the sides of the desolate desert road until it becomes a nearly impassible trail guarded by sharp rocks. Why do people place all of these reflective surfaces in this endless flat landscape? I would like to suggest one thought. When faced with the seemingly interminable void, the human instinct is to define it. One way to define a space is to define ones location within it, relative to it. A mirror, providing a reflection of oneself, allows the viewer to envision him/herself as part of that infinite distance and to break down the terrifying vastness of space.