What’s the Game?: Conlon, Harker and their Videos of Panama

Abstract

This essay analyzes the collaborative work of artists Donna Conlon and Jonathan Harker. In the videos they produce together, these artists interpret current sociopolitical reality, both in Panama and the globalized world, using a playful style and the traditional structure of games, which connect their work to the concepts espoused by philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer regarding art as play. Conlon and Harker use objets trouvées, items from everyday life, to create games through which they confront matters of profound significance, such as the destruction of the environment and of a nation’s cultural heritage, uncontrolled real estate development, the social consequences of consumerism and corruption, as well as the complicated construction of a supposed national identity. Together, they have created an artistic language and an entertaining style that involve their audience in the games and their messages, in such a way that the artwork becomes an experience through which the spectator is transformed.