October 17th - November 15th, 2026

Opening Event
Saturday, October 17th

Reception
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Gene's presents Modern Language Association

Some people see God in everything good in the world. If there is a god, maybe that is true. Who am I to say? But what about the not-so-good shit? Other people refuse to believe in anything beyond themselves. Solipsism has never solved anything, though. In
either case, or in any case, how can anyone be so sure of anything?

What I know is what I see, what I feel, what I experience, what I can describe. What I see isn’t truth; it’s what I know. What I feel isn’t fact; it’s what I know. What I experience isn’t everything; it’s what I know. What I can describe isn’t dogma; it’s what I know.

I remember when I used to live in New York City, riding on the subway, seeing those Poetry in Motion posters. And I rarely would read any of the poems on those posters, but I would often think about how poetry is everywhere. It’s on the subway – when a teenager yells, “Showtime” before performing primal dance moves that might involve
their Air Jordans getting way too close to your head, that’s poetry. It’s on the sidewalk – when tossed-aside items somehow get inadvertently stacked like a Richard Tuttle sculpture, that’s poetry. It’s in nature – when a pelican swoops into a river and scoops
up a fish, that’s poetry. It’s on the television – when Victor Wembanyama does nearl anything on a basketball court, that’s poetry.

Keep your head on a swivel in this world, and I promise you that you will see poetry, whether it be in motion or at a standstill, it truly is everywhere, but it most certainly is not everything. Poetry isn’t always definable; it’s kind of like when, in 1964, Justice Potte Stewart famously said of pornography, “I know it when I see it.” I know poetry, I see poetry, I feel poetry, I experience poetry, I describe poetry. I seek it, I honor it, I cherish it, I love it, I need it.

When I visited Oregon this past May, I found plenty of poetry. This exhibition is a visual poem. In fact, I sort of consider most of my curatorial projects to be visual poems. However, these six artists, individually and collectively, have made me consider form,
function, and flow in a new way. These six artists each speak their own distinct language, but together, maybe we are speaking something akin to Esperanto, and isn’t that something we all maybe ought to aspire to, regardless of how ambitious and nearly
impossible it might seem? Things are bleak right now, and they have been for quite some time, right? But real talk…if there is no god, all we’ve got is us in this life.

- Keith J. Varadi, October 2026

Gene’s presents Modern Language Association, is part of Ditch Projects’ Field Recordings series, and made possible with support from The Ford Family Foundation and The WLS Spencer Foundation.