Married by Powers (with Frac Nord-Pas de Calais)Married by Powers is part and parcel of the practice of Bik Van der Pol: "Our projects engage with functionality, usability and site sensitivity, are concerned with interaction at an institutional and intimate, local level, aim to improve situations, add what is missing, highlight what is in the dark and to open rather than close. Our working method is based on co-operation and we use this as a platform for various kinds of communicative activities. Exploring and activating such platforms runs like a thread through our work. With, for example, The Bookshop Piece), a fully functioning copy of the ICA bookshop in London, we reintroduced the discourse on art into the very same arena where art is shown. And with the group Nomads & Residents, we create, in collaboration with others, a platform for informal presentations and discussions by artists, critics, curators, architects, using existing spaces in cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Rotterdam.
Through research and archived information (from (art) history, journalism, media, magazines and
internet) we create a frame of reference composed of images, events, media coverage and texts. Circulation of knowledge and reuse of existing and left-over spaces, forms and situations are thus important tools in our work.
