Cryptozoology: Out of Time Place Scale

Some, like the Tasmanian tiger, are considered extinct–yet sightings are still reported. Some, like the giant squid, existed only as rumors until hard evidence finally appeared. And then there are the others, who roam a shadowy realm between myth, hucksterism and science–for example, Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Cryptozoology is the quest for unidentified and elusive species, and as such is often treated as a marginalized science more akin to farcical adventure. However, the subject makes for a perfectly fascinating zone of inquiry for contemporary artists interested in the fertile edges of the history of science and museums, taxonomy, myth, spectacle and fraud. Out of Time Place Scale mines the theoretical and design terrains of the twenty-first-century graphic novel and the medieval curio cabinet or Wunderkammer , exploring cryptozoology in art and popular culture. Originally exhibited at Maine’s Bates College Museum of Art, it begins with Mark Dion’s installation of a bureaucratic government agency, the Federal Wildlife Commission’s Department of Cryptozoology, Bureau for the Investigation of Paranormal Phenomena and National Institute of Comparative Astrobiology, and features drawings, paintings, dioramas, taxidermy and performative photos by artists Rachel Berwick, Sarina Brewer, Walmor Correa, Ellen Lesperance, Robert Marbury, Jill Miller, Vic Muniz, Jeanine Oleson, Rosamond Purcell, Alexis Rockman, Marc Swanson, Jeffrey Vallance and Jamie Wyeth.