PETER LIVERSIDGE: C-O-N-T-I-N-U-A-T-I-O-N

Peter Liversidge (b. 1973) lives and works in London. His work, dynamic and experimental in nature, is driven by and epitomises the generative notion of creativity.

For the past 16 years, Liversidge’s work has begun with single or grouped typewritten proposals; the proposed works taking form across a seemingly limitless variety of media including performance, installation, sculpture, painting, photography, and actions. Typed on an old manual typewriter and complete with typographical errors, the proposals describe ideas from the practical to the purely hypothetical. Liversidge creates the proposals within a self-imposed timeline related to a forthcoming exhibition or project, actively engaging with the particular space, location, and community. Each exhibition then includes the manifestation of some of the ideas proposed as well as the framed original proposals. The first object produced in any series is a book collating the entire set of proposals.

For his exhibition at i8, Liversidge has written 24 proposals for works and performative actions. They are all published in the book, Proposals for Reykjavík. Some of the proposed works realised in the exhibition are: an outdoor bulb sign above the gallery entrance reading: Before/After; boats made from flotsam and jetsam found on local beaches; and a small effigy, cast, in marble dust and jesmonite, from assembled chalk pieces gathered from the White Cliffs of Dover. Liversidge has also proposed and created a postal piece consisting of a group of wooden objects (handles, brushes, tools etc.) sent via Royal mail from London, with no packaging and stamps fixed directly on each object. The more hypothetical of the proposals include the artist-curated Reykjavik music festival complete with a three-day program, and one proposal stating, “I propose to apply for every job advertised in Reykjavik in June, July, and August 2014.”

Some of the works proposed for the exhibition are site-specific, such as Rules for Iceland. This text piece lists seventeen rules based on instructions and guidelines collected by the artist during his travels. Some are existing rules, some are partly or wholly fictional. The rules will feature as a billboard size poster-print pasted directly on the gallery wall and will also be distributed outside the gallery, fly-posted around the country, and published in a number of local and national newspapers.

A choral piece, written by Liversidge for a choir of 30 adults, will be performed at sunset (23:56) on the opening night at the harbour across from the gallery.

Proposals for Reykjavík is published by Crymogea.