Kurt Steger is about to set sail, and he wants you to join him on the waters. His vessel, though, will surely burst into flames.
A local artist from Floyd, Steger is captain of "The Burden Boat," a participatory sculpture that is central to his exhibition now open in Squires Perspective Gallery.
Built predominantly of wood, the 12-foot-long project is shaped to hold the woes of all who choose to share them. Steger invites everyone to write their burdens on paper, crumple them for anonymity and place them in the ceramic deck. Each burden will be accompanied by a complimentary sunflower seed that will be planted in an undetermined location on campus. Hanging "burden bags" also surround the hull, representing collective afflictions.
On Oct. 4, "The Burden Boat" will move outdoors for a ceremonial ritual release. Fire will incinerate the burden notes, symbolically freeing them from their owners. The burden bags will subsequently fall into the earth for burial.
Steger broke from his show's setup to tell the Collegiate Times more about the meaning behind "The Burden Boat."
COLLEGIATE TIMES: Why do you think we, as individuals and a community, need "The Burden Boat" now?
KURT STEGER: I think right now (in) our culture, society is really getting ramped up, and people are more nervous and more scared. I think there's a lot of fear in the air, a lot of uncertainty. I think people are carrying more stress than ever before. Our technology is moving along so fast that we're stressed on how to keep up with it. My sense is that we need a ritual - coming back to a primal place, back to our source - to ground all the news that's happening and all the "scary stuff" that's happening out there in the world. A place to reconnect with ourselves and then by reconnecting with ourselves, connecting with others, forming community. It's my belief that it's going to take community building to bring us back into a sane way of existence.
CT: Why did you select Virginia Tech?
KS: Obviously, Virginia Tech over the last couple years has had its fair share of tragedy. I feel like there's something about this campus, that there's something really great here. I believe that through tragedy, there's great potential to heal and come together. ... I know people that were involved in the shooting that are dealing with post-traumatic stress, and so two and a half years later it's not over. It still exists. So this is just another piece; I don't feel like this is going to heal all. It's just another opportunity that can just lighten the load that much more.
CT: Your process and product seems organic and uncalculated - did you ever feel the "boat" was too literal an idea?
KS: No, I didn't because I think the boat is so universal. ... I also see the boat as purely a source of transportation. I can take it back to the Egyptian times and their myth of the boat being a transformation into the upper world and to life beyond.
CT: The burden notes will be anonymous publically, but will you personally read them?
KS: I don't, and for good reason. I don't think it's my place to take on all of that. ... Through Facebook, an old high school buddy of mine met me through this (project) and sent burdens by e-mail. He said, "I don't care if you read these." I read them, and it was just heartbreaking. ... It was really an honor that he opened that up to me, but it's enough to carry my own and know my own. I thought I was going to have a book out here where every burden was going to be noted, so people could read through it. I went back and forth on whether to do that and chose not to.
CT: Will you add burdens of your own?
KS: Yes. I think I have in the process of building it, but yes, I will.
CT: How did you decide upon fire and burial as the means of "release?"
KS: It seemed natural. The fire is like a cremation of burdens, and I think it taps into our old ritual ways of releasing through fire and transformation through fire. I think it crosses all cultures. ... It's like music: it speaks at an unconscious place. Through that, it can equally touch anybody no matter what their background is. ... The burial - in our culture we either burn our bodies when we're done or we bury them. So this is kind of the same thing. The burdens that we carry as part of our body and the release of that is a funeral in essence. We're giving that up.
CT: Why will sunflowers replace the burdens in the memorial garden?
KS: For a few reasons. The practical reason: It's a large enough seed that people can pick up from the vessel and place it in (the boat). The other side is that it's such a regenerative flower that grows large and has a great show. And also, it's bird food. So there's that other ritual element of the birds taking the prayers up.
CT: You've incorporated fire into other works. Do you hesitate to harm your pieces?
KS: I've yet to let a piece go completely. ... This will be the first piece where I've actually parted with aspects - the burden bags that will drop off of this. I put a whole lot of time into sewing those bags and stuffing them and wrapping them. There's a whole ritual to that honoring all that will participate in this. That was kind of my burden, making the bags. When those burn and drop off and they're buried, I'll part with that bit of my labor.
CT: You also do furniture work. The Collegiate Times needs a good coffee table. Could it commission you, money pending, to build one?
KS: You too? Wow, interesting. The (Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention) just commissioned me to do a coffee table. That would be very cool. To get two coffee table commissions out of this little trek over here to Virginia Tech would be awesome.