The artist, author, publisher and curator Peter Hill will give a talk and reading from his book ‘Stargazing’ at the Pier Arts Centre on Saturday 30^th April at 6pm.

Peter Hill trained in England as an industrial designer and then as a fine artist and has written critically in both disciplines for over 40 publications around the world, including Art Monthly, Artmonthly Australia, Flash Art and Artist Newsletter.

Hill, who now works in Sydney, Australia, is currently touring Europe and the UK giving lectures and talks about his work and curatorial practice.

His book ‘Stargazing – Memoirs of a Young Lighthouse Keeper’, published by Canongate Books in 2003, tells the story of his period of employment as a Relief Keeper for the Northern Lighthouse Board in the early 1970s and documents many of the striking characters that he met along the way.

The Australian writer and critic Ann Skea said of ‘Stargazing’; “Hill has an artist’s eye for colourful detail and poet’s ear for accents and for the hypnotic rhythms and varied emotions of a good yarn, all of which make his own tales a delight. His serious descriptions of everyday life of lighthouse-keeping include fascinating details about the light itself, and since this was before lighthouses were automated, there were many vital routines to be learned so that the light remained reliable and bright.”

Returning to Glasgow from London in 1981 Hill began writing about art in Scotland for numerous international magazines outside Scotland helping to inject a new confidence into the art scene in Scotland in general and Glasgow in particular.

Between 1985 and 1990 he published and edited the magazine Alba which promoted Scottish and international art to readers around the world.

Hill has exhibited in some of the art world’s major institutions including Modern Art Oxford, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. He has wide experience coordinating undergraduate and postgraduate courses and continues to develop new ways of delivering studio units.

In 1993 he launched one of the world’s first web-sites-as-artwork the latest edition of which can be accessed at: www.superfictions.com.

Hill will read extracts from ‘Stargazing’ as well as talking about some other projects including ‘The Superfiction’.

Peter Hill gave a brief explanation of ‘The Superfiction’;

“I invented the Superfiction both as an artwork and as a way of testing ideas and expanding the notion of ‘lateral thinking’. In 1989 I created the fictitious Museum of Contemporary Ideas which existed only through its Press Office. Supposedly the biggest new museum in the world, it was written about in Germany and Austria as if it was real, and a meeting of German industrialists and curators was held to see if Frankfurt could build a real museum based on this model.”

The talk at the Pier Arts Centre is at 6pm on Saturday 30^th April and admission is free.  Call the gallery on 01856 850 209 for further details.

Source: Pier Arts Centre