Midsummer Snowstorm was a fabricated snowstorm that took place on 21 June 2009 (Midsummer’s Day). A 500-yard section of the Jupiter Artland was covered in pulled paper whilst potato starch based ‘snowflakes’ seemingly fell from the sky, giving visitors the impression that they were entering into a snowstorm.

Between 1 December 2008 and 31 January 2009, 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 Midsummer Snowstorm – were given material existence and are now part of Jupiter Artland’s permanent collection. The other proposals in the collection are Signpost to Jupiter and Winter Shadow.

Midsummer Snowstorm is ‘proposal 3’ within Peter Liversidge’s Jupiter Proposals. It was one of the artist’s most outlandish proposals and was brought to life with the help of twelve snow machines. The snowstorm was situated so that it is not visible from the main entrance gate – as noted by Liversidge, ‘it was important that the snow was discovered on the way to somewhere else.’ For the eight hours that Jupiter Artland was open that day, visitors walked, cycled and drove through the snow on their way to explore the works in the landscape.

‘If it can snow on June 21, in twenty-six-degree heat, a few miles outside of Edinburgh, then what else is possible from the group of Jupiter Proposals?’ 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.