The Powder Room, Rotterdam, 1998
Gallery Greene Naftali, New York, 2000
Art in General, New York, 2007
For Reasons of State, Whitney ISP, New York, 2007
Nam Jun Paik Art Center, Gyeonggi-do, Korea, 2008
The Disappearance Piece is initially shown at The Powder Room, curated by Babak Affrassiabi in Rotterdam in 1998.
On a platform (366 x 366 cm) a little bench was placed. On the bench, an edition of 100 books were layed out, wrapped in envelopes. The book, ?How To Disappear Completely and Never Be Found? by D. Richmond (published by Loompanics), is a self-help instruction book about planning a disappearance, arranging a new identity, pseudocide and more. Eighty four of the hundred packages were taken by the public, though the public was not invited or encouraged to do so: this was their own decision. In order to take a bag one had to step onto the platform.
In 2000 the piece was re-installed in Trailer, a group show at Greene Naftali Gallery, New York (USA). Again 100 bags with content were placed on a bench. After the end of the exhibition, 4 bags were left.
Publisher Loompanics went out of business in 2006. No more copies could be obtained, and none of the people behind Loompanics could be localised anymore. Therefor, Bik Van der Pol decided (after communications with publishers who knew and were friends with Loompanics) to make 'personalized' reprints of 1000 copies for Art in General 25 Years Later in 2007.
Then, they made another 1000 copies for For Reasons of State, ISP Whitney Program 2008 in The Kitchen, New York, and another 6000 copies for Now Jump at Nam Jun Paik Art Center (2008).
The copies were always free of charge and could be taken by the public.
