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Bik van der Pol, Issues, 29 Jan 2006 19:00Print

Bik Van der Pol’s ongoing research project Past Imperfect examines the extent to which radical choices and events influence the course of (art) history and through that, our forms of perception. Can these radical events actually be traced or have they intentionally or accidentally disappeared? The starting point of the research was the radical work of little-known artist Lee Lozano (1930-1999), who gradually withdrew from the art world during the 1970s, eventually disappearing completely from the public arena for the rest of her life.  
 
Casco Issues #9: Past Imperfect explores the relations between the radical output of the conceptual art of the ‘60s and ’70s and everyday life, gradually moving on to include how radical ideas from the past are linked to those of today. In all corners of life – politics, literature, intelligence, science – radical actions, even if they seem to have disappeared in oblivion, influence and shape the public arena. The publication is the result of a research, intensely guided by curiosity, amazement and suspicion, accepting the risk of being totally incomplete or overly thorough. Past Imperfect searches for hidden pasts by lifting stones and poking underneath; collecting cases around notions on disappearance, perfection, excessive control, compulsion and withdrawal – as varied as causal developments, state fiction and ambiguity, coincidental histories, preservation and destruction, dark politics, the haunting of artifacts and economical speculation, erasure, protection, the impossible made possible, … and much more. 
 
Casco Issues #9: PAST IMPERFECT 
Compiled & edited by Bik Van der Pol and Lisette Smits, 2005 / Design: Will Holder / Texts by Guus Beumer, Will Bradley, Jason Coburn, Stuart Comer, Steve Rushton, Bik Van der Pol, Jan Verwoert a.o. 
ISSN 1385—9064  
ISBN 3—86588—218—8 
Distributed by Revolver, Frankfurt, http://www.revolver-books.de 
Order through Revolver or directly from Casco on info@cascoprojects.org 
Price: € 12,50