Signpost to Jupiter is an aluminium and stovepipe enamel sign that points skywards, towards the planet Jupiter, at a 70 degree angle. It bears the inscription ‘Jupiter – 893 million to 964 million kilometres’, which is the distance from Jupiter Artland to the planet Jupiter. This distance constantly changes due to the elliptical orbits that both the Earth and Jupiter make around the Sun.

Between 1 December 2008 and 31 January 2009, Peter Liversidge submitted one hundred and thirty-four proposals for Jupiter Artland, spanning a hugely ambitious range of projects. The typewritten proposals, given the collective title Jupiter Proposals, form part of Jupiter Artland’s permanent collection and have been published as an artist’s book of the same name.

Three of the proposals – including Signpost to Jupiter – were given material existence and are now part of Jupiter Artland’s permanent collection. The other proposals in the collection are Winter Shadow and Midsummer Snowstorm.

Signpost to Jupiter is ‘proposal 90’ within Peter Liversidge’s Jupiter Proposals and is placed along Jupiter Artland’s driveway. The modesty of the sign and its connotation of a journey through rural Britain is humorously at odds with its 70 degree angle and the epic distance it denotes.

‘The work places us in the universe, whilst reminding us that we can never be in this same place again; no experience, no location, nothing is repeatable.’ Peter Liversidge

Biography

Peter Liversidge was born in 1973 in Lincoln, UK. No single category or definition can successfully describe his extraordinarily diverse practice which includes work in drawing, film, performance, painting, photography, installations and multiples. Liversidge’s approach to his work invites collaboration and is subsequently formed by influences beyond his control; his artworks are investigations of coincidence and not limited to the language of a single medium.

The subjects of his work can seem equally diverse – from an enduring obsession with the North Montana Plains (a place he has never visited) to a fascination with logos and luxury goods, and a preponderance for subverting our ideas about ‘Nature’ with his use of taxidermied birds and casts of natural objects in incongruous materials. These elements are united by an underlying streak of dark, absurdist humour, and a gently persistent questioning and curiosity.

His recent solo exhibitions include Proposals for Lancaster Arts, Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster, UK (2023); Rural Time, East Quay, Watchet, UK (2023); Either / Or, Kate MacGarry, London (2023); an echo, Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh (2022); Topsy Turvy, Sign Paintings for Belfast, The Mac, Belfast (2020); Sign Paintings for the NHS, Roman Road, E2 (2020); Working title I, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden (2018); Working title II, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden (2019); EDIFICE, COMPLEX, VISIONARY, STRUCTURE, Sean Kelly, New York, USA (2018); Proposals for The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum at The Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, USA (2017); The Bridge (A Choral Piece for Tate Modern), Tate Modern, London (2016) and Notes on Protesting, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2015), alongside participation in many group exhibitions both in the UK and internationally. His work is held in private collections worldwide and public collections including the British Council, Government Art Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne, Tate Gallery Archive and the Czech Museum of Fine Art, Prague.