In his fervent study of crystallography, Smithson came across a phenomenon wherein an imperfection in crystal structure leads to a continuous dislocation of pattern, creating a spiral-staircase shape. ​Gyrostasis ​is a frozen moment in a crystal’s formation, simultaneously complete and infinite. Smithson later referred to the sculpture as “an abstract three-dimensional map that points to the ​Spiral Jetty.​” Its geometric precision and glossy exterior lend it to the confines of the gallery—a graceful whisper of the mammoth, untamed earthwork that was to follow.