Instructions for an Ordinary Utopia
Instructions for an Ordinary Utopia featured new artworks made especially for Frome by Simon & Tom Bloor, Peter Liversidge and Ruth Proctor. The project explored how we can make ordinary life and the places we live in that little bit more special, and how incrementally personal action can change communities and commonly held ideas.
The commissions were inspired both by the town and by the artists working directly with students from Frome Community College. Ranging from the subtle to the spectacular they included physical interventions in the urban fabric of the town to proposals and propositions for new ways of thinking about community spread through books, badges and banners.
Simon & Tom Bloor created 2 new temporary public sculptures which formed new social spaces in underused parts of the town. Ruth Proctor created a new motto for Frome, a message of hope and aspiration that manifested itself like a political campaign in the town. Peter Liversidge’s eccentric book of Proposals for Frome contained ideas for social events, architectural alterations, artworks and performances created especially for the town. Some of Liversidge’s proposals were realised over the course of the project, subtly making the ordinary more extraordinary.
Instructions for an Ordinary Utopia was made possible through funding from The Alan Powell Trust, The Arts Council England, Ernest Cook Charitable Trust, Frome Town Council, Frome Community College, The Frome Independent and Hauser & Wirth Somerset.
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