“Being and Longing: Enough Is Never Enough” by Beatrix Fowler, Kim Gordon, Mauricio Guillén, Chris Kraus, and Jonas Mekas
Some people believe earnestness and intellectualism are mutually exclusive. Some people have become consumed with brands and trends. I am not one of these people.
Every once in a while, you meet someone or experience something that alters your present perspective, that fucks with your future understanding, that urges you to retrace the steps you have taken to get where you’re currently standing. These moments are special, they are often unexpected and unpredictable, they can take many shapes and forms. Sometimes it’s an armageddon breakup; sometimes it’s a soothing extended mantra, mouthed monotonously for three minutes or so; sometimes it’s a seemingly straightforward exchange or intervention; sometimes it’s a daring declaration, couched within the contextual confines of late-stage capitalism; sometimes it’s simply the acceptance of existence itself.
It’s okay to be an idealist, it’s okay to be a freak. So many artists have forgotten how to be themselves. The five I have asked to participate in this exhibition have each created a life’s work that can be studied, that can be admired, that can be seen as a blueprint for how not to conform to the societal pressures of contemporary life.
Today, we live in a world that wants us to suffer. We live in countries that want us to waste. But I live for a place that longs for us to be.
– Keith J. Varadi, July 2026
