Art    News    About    Y.O.U.    Zeitgeist    Resources    U    Contact    Credits    Home

 

 

 


refresh

 



 

.

 


1. launch audio window

2. launch image window

 

 

Ken Dryden is a famous hockey goalie. He's also a Canadian Member of Parliament, a piece of pop culture, and a white man.

 

::

 

When Conn was 10, he noticed that Ken Dryden wasn't normal. Whenever there was a bench-clearing brawl he'd stand leaning on his hockey stick and watch until the fights were over.

The next time Conn thought about him was twenty years later, during a CBC Radio interview. Ken Dryden talked about the connection between sports and violence against women. Conn had a tape recorder so he pointed it at the radio. Ken focused partly on a controversial new movie, The Accused, where Jodie Foster was sexually assaulted in a pool hall in front of many witnesses.

Conn again thought, this is an unusual man. Conn was in his 20's and trying to figure out what it meant to be a man, a white man.

Years later, as a politician, Ken Dryden had become a very powerful man. He seemed to be changing over time, he'd started with the Conservatives, then joined the Liberals, and now seemed focused on improving social programs. He traveled the country consulting the population while using his hockey past as a folksy door-opener. Recently, he declared that ending poverty in Canada was a goal they should all see through. Sadly, Conn felt that what he was offering was ... impossible. Not ending poverty. Ken. If he was telling the truth, then Ken Dryden was impossible.

Ken had a sometimes clumsy, but straight forward way of talking. He still spoke like an athlete, in sports metaphors, but maybe this would help him stay focused. He said they should tackle big problems, like poverty, in a steady, organized way, and to keep going until they won!

This was anti-politics, if he was telling the truth, because the prevailing social system said everybody should join in when there was a bench-clearing brawl. Never mind the goal.

Ken Dryden ran unsuccessfully for the Liberal leadership. He said he was running because he was angry, which Conn liked. What would it mean if they had a goalie Prime Minister? Would he wear his mask in Parliament? Could he stay calm and focused, and defeat the problems of poverty, greed, and hate?

Now Conn was watching this powerful white man's life, along with the rest of the country, seeing its narrative arc unfold like a life-long sports movie. Who would win?

 

::

 

Ken Dryden is part of U BEND.

 

::

 

Ken Dryden Photobooklet, Single Page View  .pdf, for smaller screens, colour diptych series, 9 MB

Ken Dryden Photobooklet, Double Page View  .pdf, for wide screens (recommended), 9 MB

 

::

 

Ken Dryden is a computer-based projection creating randomly regenerating patterns using a hybrid blend of cinematic and web-based technology. 10 minutes looping & re-mixing.

More information.

 


u