Cryptozoology: Out of Time Place Scale
10.27.2006 - 12.20.2006
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 roaming a shadowy habitat between myth, hucksterism and science are still others – for example, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Missouri Monster.
Such creatures are the subjects of cryptozoology, the study of unknown, rumored or hidden animals. Cryptozoology: Out of Time Place Scale, presents work by 16 artists in a wide-ranging examination of a field that has recently occupied a high profile in pop culture. The exhibition is curated by Mark Bessire and Raechell Smith and organized by the Bates College Museum of Art and H & R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute.
Artists in the exhibition include: Rachel Berwick, Sarina Brewer, Walmor Corrêa, Mark Dion, Sean Foley, Joan Fontcuberta and Pere Formiguera, Ellen Lesperance, Robert Marbury, Jill Miller, Vik Muniz, Jeanine Oleson, Rosamond Purcell, Alexis Rockman, Marc Swanson, Jeffrey Vallance, and Jamie Wyeth.
Public Programs:
October 26, 2006
Epperson Auditorium
The co-curators of the exhibition, Raechell Smith, director of the H&R Block Artspace, and Mark H.C. Bessire, director of the Bates College Museum of Art in Lewiston, Maine, will led a discussion about cryptozoology with participating artists: Sean Foley, Marc Swanson and Jeffrey Vallance.
November 16, 2006
Epperson Auditorium
A public lecture by participating artist Sean Foley.
November 17 and 18, 2006
H&R Block Artspace
Jessie Fischer, a member of the painting faculty at KCAI, will conduct an ArtLab for art educators.
November 17, 2006
H&R Block Artspace
An open house of the exhibition and a reception for art educators.
April 19, 2007
Crytozoology artist Mark Dion gave a lecture at KCAI.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog, published by JRP/Ringier, Zurich, Switzerland and includes essays by, among others, Mark Bessire, Bates College anthropologist Loring Danforth, MASS MOCA curator Nato Thompson, and Maine resident Loren Coleman, who is considered the leading American cryptozoologist and who founded the Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine, where he lives. More information about the museum is available here.
For generous support of the 2006-2007 exhibition series at the Artspace, the Kansas City Art Institute gratefully acknowledges the Richard J. Stern Foundation, the H&R Block Foundation and the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.
