Around 1965 Bianco began a period of more purely conceptual research represented by a series of works belonging to the appropriations cycle: once again the aesthetic operation was not the creation of forms ex novo but rather the appropriation of objects, persons, situations, things out of reality. The appropriation cycle includes the “superstructures”, “missed opportunities” and “flags”.

In the superstructures, Bianco acted on the reality chosen by him as a possible aesthetic dimension, marking it with “a sort of trademark or personal seal” which destined the objects to belong to him forever. The appropriation process is achieved in this way or by superimposing a coat of artificial snow (an idea which had already been conceived in 1952) which transforms objects, sculptures or persons into new “presences” of reality, or through the piercing to which Bianco subjects old objets trouvés or sculptures which attract his curiosity, belonging to different styles and periods, according to an appropriation process where the artificial snow is replaced by dowels thrust into sculptures. And here the appropriation operation, though still done in a playful vein, seems to transform the irony of the artificial snow into a cruel game. Alongside these superstructures we find the white marbles heated with electrical resistances designed to give the work greater communicational possibilities by stimulating the various sense faculties of the spectator, following the same demystifying purpose.

It is no accident that all these particular experiences, born of a desire to undermine traditional language forms, make precise references to the historical situation of the last half of the 'sixties.

Though chronologically later, around the 70's, in fact, the so-called “missed opportunities” are part of the research Bianco undertook with the appropriations. In some cases the artist takes one little square out of a tableau doré and using it as his personal monogram, puts it on reproductions of other artists' work, magazine covers or newspaper photographs.
In other cases the tableau doré becomes a flag and is inserted by photomontage into the reality of the picture; or the flag is hoisted among those of other countries or is placed in front of a building as a symbol of appropriation. Through photomontage, Bianco replaces the architectural elements of reality with new architectural structures of the imagination: the replacement of the bell tower of St. Mark's Square in Venice with a tower of playing cards can be ascribed to the appropriations cycle. Then again appropriation is a tool used by the artist to capture space within a reality which is dismantled and reassembled according to imaginative patterns, permitting him a humorous estrangement from the cliché of predominant cultural patterns.

(G. Belli, A. Marchionne, Remo Bianco, ed. Puntoelinea, Milano, 1987)