Artist Steve Powers, who has the unlikely distinction of being a favored graffiti artist and Fulbright scholar, is taking it back to Coney Island this summer with a simulated waterboarding display. For just one dollar you can see an animatronic torturer waterboard an orange jumpsuited prisoner. Pouring water over the cloth covered face, and up the nose and mouth, the pricisoner experiences the process of drowning and struggles at his restraints (robotically in this case). Powers’ intent is to get people thinking, and he asks, “What’s more obscene, the official position that waterboarding is not torture, or our official position that it’s a thrill ride?”

Here are some crowd reactions to the display:

“It’s not something to be made fun of. It’s just something they’re trying to make a quick buck off, I guess.”

“I think it’s educational because everyone hears about waterboarding, but no one really knows what it is.”

“I feel it’s a good idea. I feel more strongly about that, yes, having seen this.”

Not content to let robots have all the fun, Powers and some lawyers, “the group who most stands to benefit from the knowledge,” are scheduled for a waterboarding on August 15th, alebit in a private location. Afterwards, Power’s installation moves to the Park Avenue Armory for Democracy in America: The National Campaign, a series sponsored by Creative Time. [NYT]

Photo by Tom Giebel.