Donna Conlon & Jonathan Harker

Conlon and Harker began collaborating in 2006. Their collaborative videos use the intrinsic properties of found objects to playfully comment on national identity, mass consumerism, and social behavior. Their works reveal a painterly treatment of color and composition coupled with a meticulous handling of rhythm and sound. They initially produced Dry Season (2006) and Summer Breeze (2007), two videos that use discarded objects and their inherent properties to comment on mass consumerism, climate and the ironic beauty of our refuse-filled landscapes. Between the years 2008 and 2009, Conlon and Harker created (Video) Games, a series of videos that allude to common tabletop games, to question and critique the current local socio-political climate. In 2011, they produced Drinking Song, a video that humorously comments on the construction of national symbols and identities by using Panamanian beer bottles and beer cans to play the United States national anthem. In 2012, they made Capapults, a video about the disconnection between our actions and their consequences. In 2013, they made the video Domino Effect, utilizing discarded antique paving bricks to create a metaphor for development as a chain reaction. In 2013 they also made Tropical Zincphony, a video that follows a mango on a sensorial journey through an abstract zinc landscape and explores the roles of unpredictability and spontaneity in life in the tropics. Invisible Hands, created in 2014, is a video that addresses social and financial power structures and the symbolic nature of money. Under the Rug, made in 2015, is a video about our unwillingness to acknowledge unpleasant truths. In 2017, they produced Lottery, a video about the crossroads between chance, destiny, life and death. Also in 2017, they made The Voice Adrift, a tale of alienation and communion, hope and despair, and the frailty and resilience of human existence in the face of political, social and environmental crisis.

Submitted by Diablo Rosso