There’s a new art exhibit on New York’s Coney Island entitled, “Waterboard Thrillride.” The exterior beckons people with a rather stiff hand-painted likeness of Spongebob Squarepants being waterboarded by fellow Spongebob character Squidward Tentacles next to a headline that reads, “It Don’t Gitmo Better.” The headline and the instillation are in reference to Guantánamo Bay Naval Base where our government has admitted to using waterboard “interrogation tactics” on suspected terrorists. (Who are imprisoned there without trial.) The government refuses to call the tactics torture even though they simulate drowning. The “thrill ride” is actually a sideshow where carnival goers can pay $1.00 to look through a barred window and see two robots reenact the torture method. Fun for the whole family!

The instillation was created by artist Steve Powers who first thought of the subject matter when he saw the tiny cinderblock room. It looked like a torture chamber. It’s meant to get people to think about an issue that no one really wants to examine by illustrating for them exactly how waterboarding works.

If you climb up a few cinderblock steps to the small window, you can look through the bars at a scene meant to invoke a Guantánamo Bay interrogation. A lifesize figure in a dark sweatshirt, the hood drawn low over his face, leans over another figure in an orange jumpsuit, his face covered by a towel and his body strapped down on a tilted surface.

Feed a dollar into a slot, the lights go on, and Black Hood pours water up Orange Jumpsuit’s nose and mouth while Orange Jumpsuit convulses against his restraints for 15 seconds.

Reactions have been mixed from adults who think it’s appalling to kids who think it’s lame. Sounds like America.

Coney Island Sideshow Has Guantánamo Theme [New York Times]