Saturday, April 25, 2009

It's still there, in case you were wondering













Torture and Tourism: a European Perspective

Once upon a time, a seasonal exhibition was launched in Amsterdam, an educational money-maker: Medieval Torture, the freak/horror show, no longer on the sidelines of a recreational circus. The public would pay to stream through: relieved when spewed out at the other end, steadied by the thought of having learned something. The public (natives and foreign visitors alike) so loved this exhibition that it earned the right to become a permanent fixture. Inside this recreational success, guaranteed to scare, visitors can read up on the past in Dutch, English, German, French, Spanish and Italian.

The organizers understand that it’s not only fear of pain and suffering that will attract crowds – it’s the option of stepping into the role of executioner, or inflicting pain, that animates others. During a football competition of importance a couple of years ago, a cardboard figure of a well-known German player from the relatively recent past was propped up by the street entrance and museum visitors invited to spit on him, mimicking the act of a revered Dutch player at a game. The Dutchman, a man of color, was said to have been responding to specific remarks made by the German player against a backdrop of racist chants coming from the crowd. Dutch nationalism, often struggling for definition, has gained a profile at times like this, when defense of the national good is intended to come at the expense of Germans, the occupiers during World War II. The conflict escalated, and the two players in question were suspended. The (by now apparently resolved) conflict happened nearly two decades ago, but the Torture Museum thought that tapping into residual feelings of hate or aggression would be lucrative PR. The good news is that the target figure was removed from their entryway – enough complaints rolled in to convince them that this could put a dent in ticket sales.

The Torture Museum in Amsterdam continues to do well, but this is not only a Continental success story. Across the Channel in the UK, the legacy of 'Tudor torture' adorns pencil sets, notebooks and badges sold in shops wherever recreational and cultural pursuits cross paths.