Tony OurslerHoisted from the Pit

From the Cardiff Giant to fake news – the “Cardiff Giant” remains to this day one of the most incredible scientific forgeries in the history of North American archaeology. The stone figure is named after the place where it was found, in New York State. At a Methodist meeting the atheist George Hull had come across the biblical passage from the Book of Genesis 6:4: “In those days, and also afterwards, when the sons of God went in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them, there were giants on the earth.” Hull thereupon had the oversized stone figure made and buried it on the land of his accomplice William Newell. They arranged for a well to be sunk at the same spot a year later, in the course of which the giant was “discovered” by chance in 1869. The supposedly sensational find of the primeval giant was reported nationwide. The calculation paid off, drawing crowds of onlookers who were permitted to take a look at the giant for a fee. Although the figure was soon exposed as a fake, the story of the giant acquired a momentum of its own that even tempted researchers to develop theories about the early history of the USA on the basis of the hoax. Tony Oursler, born in New York in 1957, researched the story and its background and out of his findings created a multimedia installation that combines historical facts with specially produced artefacts in a stage-like aesthetic of theatre and showmanship. It carries the audience off into a fantastical world full of illusionistic tricks, to which one surrenders with a pleasurable shudder much as to a cabinet of curiosities. The blending of historical research, scientific facts, deliberate deception and the seduction of the masses is by now all too familiar to us. Crises of belief, fake news and conspiracy theories are omnipresent, and the role of the (social) media is an important factor in the success of fraudulent dealings. With his appropriation of the “Cardiff Giant,” the internationally renowned video artist Tony Oursler creates a parable that is as entertaining as it is dark, about double standards and the loss of trust in the grand Western narrative of science and progress. His extensive essay in this book not only penetrates the fake worlds of the USA; it also demonstrates beyond doubt that the notion of the land of the free today appears, not without reason, to resemble a chimera.

Exhibition:
Kunst Museum Winterthur, 24/5 –10/8/2025