Tapitapultas

2012 - Film & Video (Film & Video)

3:40 minutes

Donna Conlon and Jonathan Harker

location: Panama City, Panama
year born: 1966
nationality: American and Ecuadorian

In Tapitapultas (2012), Donna Conlon and Jonathan Harker comment on mass consumerism and pollution by way of a game they invented. The artists used disposable spoons as catapults to shoot thousands of plastic bottle caps at a hole in a concrete platform. The platform was once part of a U. S. military installation in the Panama Canal Zone, and it is now an observation deck in a nature park. As the video comes to an end, the viewer discovers that the bottle caps that fell through the hole accumulated on the forest floor, forming a giant mountain of synthetic waste in the natural landscape.


Donna Conlon and Jonathan Harker, who also exhibit individually, have been making work together since 2006, often using a playful approach to address serious sociopolitical themes. Conlon has a background in science and sculpture, and Harker’s is in film and media studies. Their videos merge Conlon’s use of ordinary objects and investigations of human behavior with Harker’s irony and subversion of conventional storytelling methods. Their playful and poetic critiques of contemporary culture frequently use discarded objects to comment on consumption, accumulation, climate, and the ironic beauty of waste-ridden landscapes. Specifically, they examine contradictions in the construction of Panamanian national identity, as well as political and societal disparities between Central America and the United States.


Colors:



Map (from Uncertain Pilgrimage), 2006-2009
© » KADIST

Gareth Moore

2006

Uncertain Pilgrimage is an ongoing project in which Moore draws from his unplanned travels in recent years...

La Sombra (The Shadow)
© » KADIST

Regina José Galindo

La Sombra (The Shadow) is a video of Regina Jose Galindo performing with a moving Leopard tank...

Black Imitates White
© » KADIST

Hank Willis Thomas

2012

Thomas’ lenticular text-based works require viewers to shift positions as they view them in order to fully absorb their content...

Other related works, blended automatically  
» see more

Map (from Uncertain Pilgrimage), 2006-2009
© » KADIST

Gareth Moore

2006

Uncertain Pilgrimage is an ongoing project in which Moore draws from his unplanned travels in recent years...

La Sombra (The Shadow)
© » KADIST

Regina José Galindo

La Sombra (The Shadow) is a video of Regina Jose Galindo performing with a moving Leopard tank...

8 Ball Surfboard
© » KADIST

Alexis Smith

1995

In 8 Ball Surfboard (1995),Alexis Smith combines her long-term interests in California culture and conceptual assemblage...

Argument
© » KADIST

Firenze Lai

2013

Central Station, Alignment, and Argument are “situation portraits” that present whimsical characters within distorted and troubling worlds...

Related works sharing similar palette  
» see more

The best exhibitions and openings of 2024: North America
© » ARTEFUSE

The best exhibitions and openings of 2024: North America - ArteFuse It’s an exciting year for art lovers — from Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz’s world-class collection of contemporary art to the world’s first exhibition exploring Matisse and the sea — there’s something for everyone Abraham Ángel: Between Wonder and Seduction Dallas Museum of Art Through 28 January 2024 Praised as one of the leading artists of his generation, Abraham Ángel produced just 24 paintings — four of which remain lost — before his tragic death at 19 years old, but those works established him as a legendary figure in the canon of modern Mexican art...

Assemble To Reconfigure Granary Square Into A Wintery Landscape
© » ARTLYST

Granary Square in King's Cross will be transformed into a compelling winter landscape, unveiling its latest annual installation The post Assemble To Reconfigure Granary Square Into A Wintery Landscape appeared first on Artlyst ....

The Louvre Raises Funds to Keep Chardin Painting in France
© » ART & OBJECT

The Louvre Raises Funds to Keep Chardin Painting in France | Art & Object Skip to main content Subscribe to our free e-letter! Webform Your Email Address Role Art Collector/Enthusiast Artist Art World Professional Academic Country USA Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ascension Island Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canary Islands Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Ceuta & Melilla Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo - Brazzaville Congo - Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard & McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao SAR China Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Outlying Oceania Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka St...

See the Astonishing Artworks Planted in the Saudi Arabian Desert
© » ARTNET

The latest Desert X AlUla biennial features 15 newly commissioned pieces that explore the unseen...

Related works from the » 2010's created around » Panama City, Panama  
» see more

Untitled (Ticket Roll)
© » KADIST

Gabriel Kuri

2010

Gabriel Kuri has created a series of works in which he juxtaposes perennial and ephemeral materials...

Itch
© » KADIST

Yang Guangnan

2011

Itch explores the relationship between technology and daily human experience with a motorized arm that extends from within the gallery’s wall, moving up and down while holding a projector that shows a desperately scratching pair of hands....

Related works found in the same semantic group  
» see more

A Feminist Memory Project in Nepal
© » APERTURE

An expansive archive illustrates the role of women in shaping over a century of the country's political and public life....

Drag
© » KADIST

Xiaoyun Chen

2006

In the video work Drag, a man in a dark room pulls on the end of a rope...

Untitled
© » KADIST

Apostolos Georgiou

2016

Untitled (2016) is characteristic of the artist’s practice...