Visitors enjoy taking photos with the Statue of 4 Lies. This occurred during the Statue of Four Lies Time Capsule Reveal at Houston, Texas on September 26, 2026. | Mikele Rodriguez/The Cougar
UH, along with artist Jack Massing, unveiled the time capsule at the Statue of Four Lies during a two-day event on Sept. 25 and 26.
The event marked the 16th anniversary of the Statue of Four Lies’ installation by the Art Guys and with it, the reveal of a long-awaited time capsule sealed in the wall behind the statue.
“We are revealing what the Art Guys left us in this capsule here that was installed in 2010,” said UH President Renu Khator. “I wasn’t too happy that I didn’t know what was in the capsule, but today I feel like it is so exciting that we get to reveal it and see what is inside.”
The unveiling was hosted by UH and put together by the Public Art University of Houston System, with live music, free food for guests, a petting zoo and two inflatable slides named after the Houston art team, the Art Guys.
The Art Guys, made up of the late Michael Galbreth and Jack Massing, both of whom are alumni and former educators at UH, were commissioned to create the statue.
“It was conceived in 2009 and installed in 2010,” Massing said. “Today, we’re honoring the 100th anniversary of the University of Houston, which is next year.”
The statue’s lies are not to harm the viewer, but to open up different interpretations, according to Massing.
“We like to use wit and humor to animate our work and then open it up for more questions,” Massing said. “Questions make people think, answers typically do not. They give you a final resolution when you get an answer.”
The statue has gained a reputation for students accessorizing it, much like a bronze statue or bronze painted man in the city inviting tourists.
“That’s what was intended,” Massing said. “We took it off the pedestal and put it on the ground so that the students here could interact with us, and we can continue to perform for however long these are here.”
Fittingly, the ceremony and time capsule reveal contained plenty of wit and humor.
Within the time capsule was a suitcase containing two pairs of underwear, one with the Tasmanian devil from “Looney Tunes”, the other a Krispy Kreme-themed pair of underwear. Also inside were some old socks and a combination of numbers with an unknown meaning as of now.
While the crowd laughed at the reveal of the suitcase, they became shocked to find that there is, in fact, another time capsule inside of the time capsule, which will be revealed April 1, 2083.
Although the Statue of Four Lies does lie about its original date’s significance and it even bends the truth on its full reveal, UH still sees this as the kick-off for centennial celebrations to come.
“What better way to start your centennial than to come here,” Khator said. “We know we are going to have a birthday party in March, we know we are going to have our finale sometime in October and we know that there will be at least a dozen curated events to mark the centennial.”
For now, the mystique of the statue remains. With a whole new mystery to the reveal set for 2083, the statue stands in Lynn Eusan Park, waiting for its next show.
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