I bet you didn’t know waterboarding is a spectator sport. Yep, that’s right. Coney Island — home to the Cyclone roller coaster, Nathan’s hot dogs, the sun and sand — has added a new thrill to its roster of cheap entertainments. For just a dollar you can step right up and peer through a barred window (like some creepy voyeur) to watch the “Waterboard Thrill Ride” advertised by a cheeky Sponge Bob Square Pants look-alike. Get the thrill of your life watching a robotic “guard” torture a robotic “prisoner.” When the guard pours water onto the prisoner, its body convulses. Hey, it’s unreal reality! It’s a freaky freak show!

This unfortunate Coney Island “attraction” was created by American artist Steve Powers. Powers told the New York Times that he hopes his tableau will help people “explore” the issue of water boarding and torture “without doing any harm.” I disagree. This does harm.

I looked this guy up. It turns out he’s a Fulbright Scholar and graffiti artist who has recently moved into mainstream art circles. As a visual artist and graphic designer, I find myself drawn to his pseudo-commercial imagery and popular culture references. But when graphic art slips into uncritical depictions of violence, I’m disturbed. I understand the use of irony as a critical device within art practice. I also understand the use of strong imagery to confront viewers with the brutal abuse of power. But Steve Powers’ tableau (installation?), in its Coney Island setting, is hard to recognize as critique in any form; rather, it perpetuates the spectacularization and trivialization of pain and suffering, and dulls our ability to empathize with the very real people who are being held at Guantanamo Bay.