Donate today and help bring the River Styx to Life

Across human history we have asked ourselves where do we go and what happens when we die, and throughout collective culture the answer has appeared in the form of a symbolic river. It took the name Hubur in Mesopotamia, Sanzu in Japan and Styx in ancient Greece, but the symbol is always the same. To celebrate that story and add another chain in the link of our collective consciousness, we are bringing the River Styx to life this summer.

To create the illusion of a river of fire, this installation uses air, billowing fabrics, addressable LEDs, a soundscape of roaring flames and other sculptural elements to immerse participants into the mythological. The scale we are aiming for stretches upwards of 65 feet long, presenting and pressuring us to engage with a giant fiery obstacle, while also guiding us towards a bridge at the river’s midpoint. The bridge, a fully functional wooden footbridge, is carved to look like flowing lava and pulses with lights to capture the feel of magma.

The journey that we all must eventually take has become a symbol etched into language and history and I hope to give that symbol a breath of new life. In a world that often feels on fire, my installation, Styx and Stones, represent both a shared obstacle and the way to overcome it. A sprawling river of fire with a beautifully eerie footbridge made of living lava, Styx and Stones is an immersive installation that hopes to capture the myth and bring it to life this summer.

It is our goal that Styx and Stones reminds everyone who sees it about their own journey as well as the journey everyone has taken before us. It is rare to be able to practice an ancient routine and engage with something eternal, so it is our hope that by witnessing and choosing to cross, we are better equipped when our time eventually comes.

Styx and Stones is a way to honor death and grief in the present moment, and with your help, we can make it a reality.