Back in September 2006, an artist group called the Wooster collective set up a life-sized Guantanamo inmate outside of the Rocky Mountain Railroad ride in Disneyland. The doll was only left up for one hour before security removed it.
So what does this art do? How did it disrupt the reigning discourses about torture? I really like the idea of exhibiting this image right in the middle of an amusement park. It certainly creates a spectacle--it really deflates the magic of Disney! I think that this art definitely suggests asking the kind of questions Mark Danner's article renders necessary. The viewer/Disneyland-goer is face-to-face with what torture looks like. The dehumanization of the torture subject is pretty evident--is such dehumanization necessary to gain "intelligence"? The Guantanamo doll shows what national security policies look like when played out on human bodies, something no longer made as public as punishment has moved away from public spectacle.
http://www.woostercollective.com/2006/09/breaking_the_story_disneyland_doesnt_wan.html
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