Canary Wharf Screen: Dryden Goodwin

Closer is a slightly sinister thing, I think. Dryden Goodwin watches people through a long distance lens that distorts the quality of vision and reduces the perceptive distance between him and these strangers. Using a laser pen, he further “collapses the spatial distance,” literally creating a connection between him and the object of his attention, which is occasionally obscured by the architecture or angle from which he films them. This invasive scrutiny – with all the red dot connotations of a sniper – slowly becomes something more empathetic. The loneliness of these characters is familiar and the Goodwin’s attempt to reach out to them feels more and more like an act of sympathy.