[EVENT *NY] "THE WATERBOARDING THRILL RIDE by Steve Powers" (aka ESPO)

from: educatedcommunity.blogspot.com...

THE WATERBOARDING THRILL RIDE by Steve Powers
@ Coney Island

Graffiti artist-painter Steve Powers a.k.a. Espo, who is looking for 50 lawyers to waterboard as part of an "experimental art event" this summer in Coney Island.

Date: Through - late August
Address: West 12th St, Coney island

via: nymag.com...

The nymag article.

Steve Powers Wants to See You Get Waterboarded

ome consider waterboarding torture. For others, it's "all in fun," says an assistant to the graffiti artist-painter Steve Powers a.k.a. Espo, who is looking for 50 lawyers to waterboard as part of an "experimental art event" this month somewhere in the city (probably Coney Island). "We felt like lawyers would yield an interesting result as they are most qualified to impartially describe the experience," said the assistant, who didn't want to be named. The mass waterboarding will be supervised by medical professionals and will not last more than five seconds. Other than that, it will be pretty authentic:

Volunteers will be strapped to a wooden board and have water poured over their face to simulate drowning.

articipants should look on it, Power's assistant says, "as an old-fashioned Coney Island–style ride" that "will hopefully settle the question of what waterboarding is like … whether it is torture or fun/crazy/scary." Hmmm. We suspect if you're a prisoner who is most definitely not having this done voluntarily, there's no way you'd see it as fun. But for everyone else? Well, it's pretty hot out. You do what you need to do to cool down. Full press release after the jump

LAWYERS WANTED FOR NYC WATERBOARDING EVENT +++ Step Up And Ride the Waterboard of Terror +++ An Experimental Art Event Presented by Steve Powers and Creative Time
WANTED—Fifty courageous lawyers willing to be waterboarded for five
seconds. Volunteers will be strapped to a wooden board and have water
poured over their face to simulate drowning. You will be required to
sign a release and attend one short training session prior to the
event.

IS IT SAFE? Yes. The waterboarding will be carefully supervised and
last for a maximum of five seconds. Trained medical personnel will be
on hand. Volunteers will be able to stop the waterboarding at any time
by ringing a bell.

WHEN? July 2008, exact details TBA

WHERE? New York City, exact details TBA

WHY? We're interested in whether waterboarding is torture. Now that
this question has been handed over to the courts, who better to answer
it than trained legal professionals?

INTERESTED? QUESTIONS? Send your name and contact info to Steve Powers
at [email protected].

Wow!
Many of you do not know who ESPO is, but he is a modern artist that really tries to push the limits when it comes to the law. He originally started as a graffiti writer in his youth, which seems to have affected his perspective.

Either way, I would really like to know how this publicty stunt/art piece turns out.

Wouldn't it be sweat irony if Alberto Gonzalez signed up.
DocMoreau

Links:
ESPO's resume
ESPO's wikipedia
The Art of Getting Over (Hardcover)
www.theartofgettingover.com...

It seems to me that they're not really addressing the difference between this event & waterboarding used in prison conditions...The fact that, when used as torture, it's not likely to be limited to a 5 second maximum & the victims are not likely to be volunteers!

This seems to be nothing less than a kind of publicity stunt to make the general public dismiss & misjudge the technique as it would be applied under prison conditions as "not that bad." The whole technique, being "demonstrated" under strictly controlled & limited conditions, would not be applied in the same manner in prison, thus downplaying the actual torture-effect as far as the public perceives it. Overall effect would be to deceive the general public into granting its "general acceptance" for the technique.

As noted in the OP's graphic, this technique was originated with the Spanish Inquisition...With an event like this staged for propaganda purposes, the use of torture is likely to actually gain public acceptance?

So now welcome to the American Inquisition.

[edit on 26-7-2008 by MidnightDStroyer]

reply to post by MidnightDStroyer


I had not thought about it that way. That is was an event to make the public think it is a joke, and misjudge the technique as not bad.

From how I saw it, the artist was trying to get 50 lawyers to have it done to them, in the hopes that those lawyers would come away knowing that water-boarding is torture.

But then again, those 50 lawyers could all describe the experience as the best in their life.

More likely, I think that he will have a hard time finding 50 lawyers willing to participate.

It IS torture we are talking about after all.
DocMoreau

www.nytimes.com...

Still Painting Messages on Buildings, but No Longer a Vandal

A love of graffiti has gained Steve Powers notoriety on the streets, fame in the art world and a long arrest sheet. It has also earned him a Fulbright scholarship.

Although his tag, ESPO, can still be spotted on storefront grates throughout New York City, Mr. Powers, 40, has stopped painting illegally. Working out of his studio in Lower Manhattan, he now shows pieces at a SoHo gallery, has published art books, participated in the Venice Biennale and had his first solo museum exhibition last fall at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Mr. Powers returned this week to New York after spending nearly six months in Ireland working on his Fulbright. His idea was to create public artwork with the help of teenagers from troubled housing projects in Dublin and Belfast.

At the end of the highly competitive selection process, he was one of about 800 people out of 2,000 applicants awarded Fulbright grants last year. The awards primarily go to scholars and professionals who go abroad to pursue research and teach in academic and specialized fields. Thirty-seven Fulbright winners have also received Nobel Prizes.

Although many of us may not be familiar with Mr. Power's work, he is one of America's rising art stars. It is almost unheard of that he received a Fulbright Scholarship.

“I was shocked,” Mr. Powers said in a phone interview from Ireland. “I didn’t think I would get it but I felt a few feet taller when I did.” Although a Fulbright scholar typically must have a doctorate, Mr. Powers, an art school dropout, was granted an exception because of his achievement in the arts.

“The Fulbright program invests in talented people,” said Thomas A. Farrell, deputy assistant secretary for academic programs at the United States Department of State, which manages the program. “The body of work is what counts.”

For those of you who don't know:
en.wikipedia.org...

The programs were established to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills.
The Fulbright Program provides funds for students, scholars, and professionals to undertake graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and teaching in elementary and secondary schools abroad. The initial reach of this program had been primarily European countries, but now the program operates worldwide.

I think it is very interesting that an Art School drop out was able to get a Fulbright to go paint murals with the kids in Ireland.

DocMoreau

if you think people are going to be more accepting of waterboarding, after the event, maybe you should ride the ride, and tell the people something different. Me personally, 5 seconds is too long. And if you think making waterboarding a thrill ride is a stunt, what is calling waterboarding "not torture"? evel kneivel couldnt make that leap in logic in his rocket sled.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


I agree with you Anon.

I think water-boarding is 100% torture. I would love to see 10 out of the 50 lawyers disagree with me if they were willing to take 5 seconds out of their busy schedules.

I look forward to seeing if 50 lawyers have the brass to step up to Mr. Power's challenge.

Even the Justice Department agrees with me:

A senior Justice Department official says laws and other limits enacted since three terrorism suspects were waterboarded has eliminated the technique from what is now legally allowed, going a step beyond what CIA Director Michael Hayden has said.

"The set of interrogation methods authorized for current use is narrower than before, and it does not today include waterboarding," Steven G. Bradbury, acting head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, says in remarks prepared for his appearance Thursday before the House Judiciary Constitution subcommittee.

"There has been no determination by the Justice Department that the use of waterboarding, under any circumstances, would be lawful under current law," he said. It is the first time the department has expressed such an opinion publicly.

www.capitolhillblue.com...