The audience wavered slightly, glancing at each other nervously.
The chorus of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” reverberated against the walls of the small room. But only the chorus. As Springsteen repeated himself over and over, louder and louder, the crowd became visibly uneasy.
Soon, the screeching sounds of Krzysztof Penderecki’s “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima” began to drown out the original song. One woman put her hands over her ears. A few people sunk to the floor.
It was all part of Jeff McMahon’s plan. A theatre professor at the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, McMahon engineered this experience to mimic torture and coercion tactics used in Guantanamo Bay.
McMahon’s performance Wednesday night was part of a larger series hosted by Burton Barr Central Library.
The Guantanamo Public Memory Project — a national project to build public awareness of the U.S. Naval base’s history — has been brought to Burton Barr in collaboration with ASU’s Public History Program in the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, according to the library’s website.
Wednesday’s performances included audience participation, physical activity, music and other media.
McMahon also used images and descriptions of a made-up event to trick the audience into admitting that they knew of the event through Facebook posts or news stories.
“It’s the concept of getting to yes,” McMahon said. “Getting people to agree to the possibility of something happening.”
Diana Coleman, a religious studies graduate student who is writing her dissertation on Guantanamo, said she knows a lot about these tactics.
“We’re not going to get the intelligence from torturing them,” Coleman said, referring to countless testimonies she has heard from former prisoners in which they said they were so broken down that they would admit to crimes they didn’t commit.
Elizabeth Johnson, project coordinator for socially engaged practice in the arts at the Herberger Institute, led the audience through a series of exercises to explore time, disorientation and other concepts.
“It was really kind of beautiful to see everyone so concentrated,” Johnson said.
After the interactive part of the night was over, guests were invited to participate in the evolving art installation on the second floor, called the Memory Shards Project. Audience members could have public artist Joan Baron carve their sentiments into a shard of clay and then attach the shard to a chain-link fence with wire.
“By being able to participate in some way allows us to feel that we’re making a connection and helping to explore solutions,” Baron said. “It’s very powerful and very meaningful for everyone.”
On Saturday, the library will host an exhibit called the Human Library Experience, featuring a person who will tell his or her own unique story about Guantanamo.
Burton Barr will continue the Guantanamo Public Memory Project exhibits through Nov. 24. They are all free and open to the public.
Contact the reporter at emma.totten@asu.edu
