Coney Island waterboarding thrill ride explained

The Coney Island waterboarding thrill ride was a work in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City conceived by conceptual artist Steve Powers in mid-2008.^{[1] [2] [3]}

As originally conceived, Powers saw the public watching volunteers undergoing actual waterboarding.^[1] 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.^[2] 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 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 orange uniform "non-compliant" captives wear in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps, 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 concessions.When installed the thrill ride triggered coverage and commentary around the world.^{[4] [5]}

The installation's last viewing was on September 14, 2008.^[6]

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:

Notes and References

1. News: Steve Powers Wants to See You Get Waterboarded . June 27, 2008 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20081006183421/http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/06/any_lawyers_want_to_get_waterb.html . October 6, 2008 . dead .
2. News: In N.Y., Waterboarding as Dark Art . https://web.archive.org/web/20160402200048/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/16/AR2008081602071_2.html . dead . April 2, 2016 . . August 17, 2008 . November 11, 2011 . 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. . Robin Shulman .
3. News: Bloom . Julie . July 30, 2008 . Waterboarding as Art . . live . November 11, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105201658/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/arts/30arts-WATERBOARDIN_BRF.html . January 5, 2018 . 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..
4. News: Coney Island's Robotic 'Waterboard Thrill Ride' Evokes Guantanamo . August 7, 2008 . Will Safer . . https://web.archive.org/web/20090523163611/http://gizmodo.com/5034224/robots-act-out-guantanamo-waterboarding-torture-terrorists-win . May 23, 2009 . dead .
5. News: Waterboarding an attraction at amusement park . August 7, 2008 . Ritsuke Ando . . https://web.archive.org/web/20081201204014/http://www.switched.com/2008/08/07/coney-islands-robotic-waterboard-thrill-ride-evokes-guantanam/ . December 1, 2008 . dead .
6. News: The Waterboard Thrill Ride . 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. . September 2008 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20080913073052/http://brooklynbased.net/everything/patriot-art/ . September 13, 2008 . dead .