View source for Coney Island waterboarding thrill ride

{{short description|2008 artwork}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}}
[[File:Exterior of the animatronic depiction of waterboarding from Coney Island.jpg|thumb|Exterior of the animatronic depiction of waterboarding from [[Coney Island]].]]
The '''Coney Island waterboarding thrill ride''' was a work in [[Coney Island]], [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City]] conceived by [[conceptual art]]ist [[Steve Powers (artist)|Steve Powers]] in mid-2008.<ref name=NYMag2008-06-27>{{cite news |url=http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/06/any_lawyers_want_to_get_waterb.html |title=Steve Powers Wants to See You Get Waterboarded |date=June 27, 2008 |magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006183421/http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/06/any_lawyers_want_to_get_waterb.html |archivedate=October 6, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=WashingtonPost2008-08-17>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/16/AR2008081602071_2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402200048/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/16/AR2008081602071_2.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 2, 2016 |title=In N.Y., Waterboarding as Dark Art |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=August 17, 2008 |accessdate=November 11, 2011 |quote=He first wanted real people to undergo waterboarding for the public, but he realized that might be tricky and limited it to the one-time private experiment. For the public display, with robotic stand-ins, Powers concerned himself with details such as finding music mentioned on blogs as having been played to prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. |author=Robin Shulman }}</ref><ref name="NytimeArts2008">{{cite news |author=Bloom |first=Julie |date=July 30, 2008 |title=Waterboarding as Art |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/arts/30arts-WATERBOARDIN_BRF.html |url-status=live |accessdate=November 11, 2011 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105201658/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/arts/30arts-WATERBOARDIN_BRF.html |archivedate=January 5, 2018 |quote=The journalist Christopher Hitchens underwent waterboarding for a recent Vanity Fair article. Now an artist is using that interrogation technique — which makes people feel as if they were drowning — to raise awareness of the issue of torture.}}</ref>
As originally conceived, Powers saw the public watching volunteers undergoing actual [[waterboarding]].<ref name=NYMag2008-06-27/>
''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported that on August 17, 2008, Powers brought in [[Mike Ritz]], a former US official experienced in administering waterboarding, for a one time demonstration of waterboarding on volunteers.<ref name=WashingtonPost2008-08-17/>
This demonstration was not open to the general public, but rather for an invited audience.
Powers himself was one of the volunteers.
As built, the [[Amusement ride|thrill ride]] was a diorama, where viewers would mount stairs to a window where they would see a tableau of two robotic models, one a captive, one a masked interrogator.  The captive was wearing an [[Guantanamo captives' uniform|orange uniform]] "non-compliant" captives wear in the [[United States]]' [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]]s, in [[Cuba]], and was spread-eagled on a tilted table.
When the piece was installed, in July 2008, viewers inserted a dollar the interrogator figure would pour water onto a rag over the captive figures' nose and throat, upon which the captive figure would start convulsing.
The piece was installed in a row of ordinary Coney Island freak shows and [[concession stand|concessions]].
When installed the thrill ride triggered coverage and commentary around the world.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.switched.com/2008/08/07/coney-islands-robotic-waterboard-thrill-ride-evokes-guantanam/ |title=Coney Island's Robotic 'Waterboard Thrill Ride' Evokes Guantanamo |date=August 7, 2008 |author=Will Safer |publisher=[[Huffington Post]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090523163611/http://gizmodo.com/5034224/robots-act-out-guantanamo-waterboarding-torture-terrorists-win |archivedate=May 23, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://gothamist.com/2008/08/06/waterboard_thrill_ride_splashes_dow.php |title=Waterboarding an attraction at amusement park |date=August 7, 2008 |author=Ritsuke Ando |publisher=[[Reuters]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201204014/http://www.switched.com/2008/08/07/coney-islands-robotic-waterboard-thrill-ride-evokes-guantanam/ |archivedate=December 1, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The installation's last viewing was on September 14, 2008.<ref name=Brooklynbased2008September>{{cite news |url=http://brooklynbased.net/everything/patriot-art/ |title=The Waterboard Thrill Ride |quote=Brooklyn artist Steve Powers’ installation has been up since July beside less menacing Coney Island sideshows: Pay $1, and see an animatronic torturer in action. It should be on view 2-6 on Friday and 2-8, Saturday, Sept. 14, when it closes. |date=September 2008 |publisher=[[Brooklynbased]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913073052/http://brooklynbased.net/everything/patriot-art/ |archivedate=September 13, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Powers told ''The New York Times'' his purpose in preparing the display was educational, being "a way of exploring the issue without doing any harm". He said of the work:
{{quote|1=What's more obscene, the official position that waterboarding is not torture, or our official position that it's a thrill ride? [...] It's the perfect Coney Island distraction — it's not quite delivering what it offers, but it's putting a unique experience on the table. And it doesn't take a great leap of the imagination to look in there and say: 'That's really what's going on? That's crazy.'"<ref name=NYTimes20080807>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/arts/design/06wate.html?_r=1 |title=Coney Island Sideshow Has Guantánamo Theme |work=The New York Times |first=Ariel |last=Kaminer |date=7 August 2008 |accessdate=20 April 2009}}</ref>
}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Political art]]
[[Category:Animatronic attractions]]
[[Category:Coney Island]]
[[Category:Waterboarding]]
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