[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 30



ENGLAND:

Recording of electric chair death features in Lincoln art exhibition


A recording of officials carrying out a man's death by electric chair is being 
used to challenge feelings about the death penalty.

The Collection and Usher Gallery are showing Freedom Lies, which is a 
collection of three exhibitions exploring political issues following the 800th 
anniversary of Magna Carta.

One exhibition features a video by artist Jordan Baseman, which uses a sound 
recording and words on a blank screen to portray the electric chair execution 
of an American convict in 1984.

Visitors hear phrases such as "perspiration has been wiped from the condemned's 
forehead" as officials talk executioners through the process and administering 
the electric shocks.

Curator Ashley Gallant said it highlights how feelings around the death penalty 
are coped with by making it less visible. He said the recording is publicly 
available and was once used on radio.

"It is government officials from a condemned man's execution talking to people 
carrying out the execution," he said.

"In making the process visible it allows people to be in discussion about it.

"We have got a couple of walls in the space to vote on questions, like does 
punishment ever stop you doing that act."

He said warnings and precautions have been put in place around the 
installation, and that it is people's imaginations which fill in the gaps.

A transcript of the words spoken appears on a black screen, as shown here.

"There are members of staff in the space all the time talking to people as they 
go in and there is a warning sign," he said.

"You make a specific decision to go into the space.

"One key point is that people were more shocked by how everyday it was.

"When people are offended by something it allows them to reconsider why they 
are offended, and that is the discussion we wanted to start."

Copies of archived historical documents about hangings that took place in 
Lincoln and laws on the death penalty also form part of the first exhibition, 
in The Collection.

Paul Gilbert, cultural service director, said: "I particularly like the 
historical section about Lincoln Castle and executions there, it is a part of 
Lincoln.

"William Marwood, a shoemaker from Horncastle, actually developed the long drop 
which meant in theory, and if calculations were correct, that victims died 
instantly [from hanging]."

People can say whether they agree or disagree with corporal punishment using 
stickers on walls.

There will also be a discussion on December 3 led by the Lincoln Law School and 
the artist Jordan Baseman.

Karolina Dworska, who is 17 and from Lincoln, was one of the Usher Young 
Creatives group who gave opinions as part of the exhibition.

Their thoughts have been used as panels on the floor of The Collection.

"When you hear the video, the actual executioners are talking about it really 
casually," she said.

"It is not what you expect. They are very desensitised."

The rest of Freedom Lies stretches into The Usher Gallery.

(source: lincolnshireecho.co.uk)