The Blobsquatch
“And as anybody who watches Oprah can tell you, if you mix fiction with nonfiction, then it becomes fiction—right? Except when it doesn’t. Sans Soleil is an essay, and so, to our way of thinking, is Carl Diehl’s Blobsquatch.” –John Bresland, Introducing Six Video Essays
Cryptozoology, a field known for its inquiries into unknown creatures like the Bigfoot and Loch Ness Monster, constitutes a challenge to exclusive hierarchies of knowledge and established scientific authority by presenting alternative theories and new taxonomic models. Recently, perhaps adversely influenced by information-addiction, many Bigfoot aficionados have dismissed “blobsquatches” (photos too blurry to be discernible as sasquatches) as an impediment to serious cryptozoological research. In this paranormal polemic, scientific jargon and genre tropes of investigative documentary are short-circuited and re-wired. The Blobsquatch is engaged critically to explore notions of information and noise, obsolescence and adaptive re-use.
“Blobsquatch: in the Expanded Field,” articulates over a year’s worth of research and development by Carl Diehl. This audio-visual essay encapsulates Diehl’s intial queries into the space he has since demarcated metaphortean. Premiering on the 40th anniversary weekend of the infamous Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot filmstrip, sightings continue to accumulate in the form of screenings and presentations worldwide. View an excerpt here
2010
Unsharpness of Documentary, Kunstfilmtag 10, Düsseldorf , Germany
Heavy Meta Tour, curated by Grand Detour, various European locales
Video Essay Suite, Blackbird Journal, online journal of literature and arts. Spring 2010, Vol.9 No.1,
2009
PNCA Faculty Biennal, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
Off The Map, Western Oregon University Experimental Film Festival, Monmouth, OR
2008
Bivouvac, Grotto Galerie, Brooklyn
Can Bigfoot Get You A Beer?, Alogon Gallery, Chicago
Local Sightings, NW Film Forum, Seattle
ISEA , Singapore
Journal of Short Film Vol. 11 published in Columbus, OH
Northwest Tracking, NW Film Center, Portland
Other Cinema, San Francisco
PDX Festival, Portland
New York Experimental the Tank, NYC
Transmediale Festival, Berlin
2007
Alternatives of Alternatives, Artists’ Television Access, San Francisco
Impure Cinema, Studio 27, San Francisco
ICE Film Fest, Iowa City
Crypto-Zoetropical Pursuit, LumpWest, Eugene
Crypto-Zoetropical Pursuit, Rererato Art Space, Portland
