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Museum's Wry Promo Posits That 'Switzerland Is Fake'
Trump's in the ad, so it must be true
Wake up, sheeple!
Building on a deepfake video showing Donald Trump denying the existence of Switzerland, comic Patrick “Karpi” Karpiczenko created a clip that makes the case, reasonable in its own bonkers way, that the European nation is a propaganda tool concocted by the King of Sweden.
On the way to his point, a bunch of classically Swiss things get thrown under the bus. Swiss knives, the Swiss-German language, Swiss watches … Swiss chocolate? Cocoa beans don’t even grow in Europe!
The video, which has apparently generated 6 million views since its launch, is a promotion for Fotomuseum Winterthur, a space dedicated to imagery and visual media. The museum had been closed for renovations since 2023 and reopened this month. Aptly, its current exhibition is titled “The Lure of the Image.”
Since its development as a medium, photography has been used to both sharpen our sense of the world and blur it. The use of deepfakes to promote the museum’s reopening is, itself, a canny commentary on how our tendency to believe (and sort of fall into) photos is being pushed to a distillation point.
Still images already cast a sense of realism. But moving ones, in the form of deepfakes? These don’t just persuade our senses. They can persuade our minds, appeal to our reasoning. Alluring, indeed.
“Do you know any actual Swiss people? Are you sure they aren’t just Germans in funny hats?” the narrator demands over the image of grinning locals in Alpine hats. “Do your own research. Look at the evidence. Talk to your Swissified friends, if it’s not too late!” It’s the classic sign-off of conspiracy theorists.
The original deepfake of Trump denying Switzerland’s existence was itself created following some weird photo-manipulation, giving this one a nice legacy of layered image-based unrealities. Late last year, Trump posted a photoshopped image of himself beside the Canadian flag, but facing the Matterhorn, which he mistook for part of the Canadian Rockies.
“Switzerland Is Fake,” and the museum itself, invite viewers to consider how imagery and technology affect our sense of what is true.
Angela Natividad is the European markets editor at Muse by Clios. She also writes about gaming and fashion, and whatever else she’s interested in, really. She’s based in Paris and North Italy, so if you’re local, say hi. She might eat all your food.
