Few know or remember that America nearly missed having a cartoon character as president. Long before the current presidency, the nationwide celebrity of the cartoon character « Winney the Bull » had generated a popular craze that made him America’s favorite candidate. Luckily, Winney was not elected, but this electoral campaign resurrected chocking facts that horrified the nation. That’s probably why, in a reflex of shame, it was decided to wipe out from History anything connected to Winney and the powerful Winney Company’s. Chance brought us into contact with some non destroyed clues, which made us want to investigate.

WITNESSES

« My grand-grand father died in 1920 in the big fire that destroyed the studio he shared in Hollywood with Ron Gold, the creator of Winney. They both emigrated from Prague in search of a wider horizon for their creativity. The legend says that in their suitcase, they brought a lot more than some cartoon sketches. Rumors about a magical system to control the motion and the brains, or a special technology, I don’t know really. That time was so esoteric oriented, and very blurry were the boundaries between creation and deception »

THE GRAND GRAND DAUGHTER OF MAX FLESHMAN, AUTHOR OF LOOSEY-THE-DONKEY

«It was during a live TV show, I was piloting Winney’s hologram with some real time motion captors wired on my flesh, and all of a sudden, it was no more me who was controlling Winney, it was Winney controlling me. He made me tell scandalous things I never wanted to say. They fired me, but I know the truth : Winney is coming, Winney is the Beast of the apocalypse

WINNEY’S EX PUPPET MASTER, NOW LIVES AS A REFUGEE IN JAPAN, IN A SAKE FACTORY’ BACKYARD

EVIDENCE N°1 – Last time we saw Loosey was in this 1920 cartoon

A rare footage from 1920 into which we see Loosey-The-Donkey teaming up with Winney-the-bull character.

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It is interesting to see how this cartoon ends up. Seems like a premonition of what eventually happened in the real life : Winney and his creator Ron Gold had this tremendous success leading the Winney Company to drive a massive empire of entertaiment, while Loosey and his creator Max Fleshman were sinking in the ocean of forgotness.

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Remasterisation of the vintage footage by Kuntzel+Deygas
Production: Add A Dog, Paris.
Music: silent movie version of « This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us » kindly created for this project by Sparks, Los Angeles.

EVIDENCE N°2 – Confidential footages

We recently compiled some confidential footage of old VHS tapes that we’ve been given by one of the witnesses. Theses clips, once edited on a chronological timeline, demonstrate that the plan to connect Winney to the political world was existing since long. Winner is not that naive.

THE INVESTIGATORS

We are 2 french visual artists fascinated by the power that fictional characters have over the real world.

Probably because we live in a world where Miss Piggy is a multi awarded celebrity, where Queen of England gives a medal to Wallace and Gromit characters, where Eurodisney deal was signed between the french prime minister and an actor in a Mickey Mouse costume, where Bugs Bunny is accused of being racist in his old cartoons.

Characters are so nice, so cute, so funny, that we give them our heart our souls and our children without hesitation.

But sometimes, it can be like signing a pact with the devil.

OUR STRATEGY

How can we warn future generations in order to prevent such a slippage from happening again ?
We had the idea to make revive the story of Winney, bits by bits depending on the progress of the investigation. But we had to find a way fitting with our possibilities and limits. That’s why we do it through fashion events, worldwide exhibitions, invented memorabilia, short films. Digging in the past is long and sometimes fastidious, or desapointing, but we will never give up this subject.
Better keep entertainment where it stands, and avoid let politics become entertaining.
And as for esotericism, it should stay a personal matter.

SNOOPS

TOKYO TUR

Orange Taxi, ,orange Eiffel Tower, Japan was made for Winney who slips into the traditional and the contemporary Tokyo, the stranger in the city, perfectly camouflaged.* A Tokyo visit by Winney, who was invited as a guest star for the opening of TUR fashion shop....

TWIST WITH MADAME CLICQUOT

Artnimation. DVD. Multiple of 3. October 18th, 2006. * Winney enters the frame of this classic oil painted portrait of Madame Veuve Clicquot, and invites her to dance the Twist, which she does.*We’ve been invited by Veuve Clicquot Japan to create a piece of art that...

FASHION TSUSHIN

2001 in Japan. Winney is awarded Best Personality by Fashion Tsushin channel. → WATCH VIDEO ←