At My Limit : In the Name of Kernel!

March 22, 2008 – May 10, 2008
Opening: March 21, 2008

“I’m currently in that floating point of several considerations which bring the name of the iron bird scream in its flight through the automatic dusk, ...In the Name of Kernel!”—Kristopher Kubasik

Project Gentili is pleased to present At My Limit : In the Name of Kernel!, an exhibition of hd video, digital prints, and text by Barcelona-based artist Joan Leandre. As the first gallery exhibition in the artist’s extensive history, At My Limit : In the Name of Kernel! introduces Leandre’s critical practice and politics of media interpretation and reverse engineering to a new audience.

“The Dr Strangelove of computing, Leandre loves the bomb and knows its mechanisms well enough to transform them instantly into the workings of a multi-layered ambiguous narrative, esoteric and seductive at the same time. This is what we can see in his latest project, In the Name of Kernel (2006 - ongoing). The kernel, the heart of every operating system, becomes the myth around which coagulates a symbolic event combining travel literature, the alchemy tradition and science fiction, terrorism and conspiracy theories, programming and mountaineering, 3D modelling and satellite mapping, hallucinations and revelations. A high definition metaphor for those who love the clear air of the high peaks.”—Domenico Quaranta

In 2004 Joan Leandre participated in the Whitney Biennale and has exhibited his work in a variety of museums including: Triennale, Milan (1999); Centre George Pompidou, Paris (2000 and 2007); American Museum of the Moving Image, New York (2003); Ars Electronica, Linz (2003); and the Laboral Centro de Arte Contemporaneo, Gijon (2007).

Exhibition includes:
In the Name of Kernel! : Song of the Iron Bird (The Flight Recording Series) (2006 - 2008) HD video
In the Name of Kernel! : 7 Columns Mega NFO File (The Download Machine Series)* (2008) Digital print
In the Name of Kernel! : NFO Box (The Download Machine Series)* (2008) Digital print
The Kernel Peak: At my Limit - The Zero Face (Unknown Universal Series) (2008) Digital print
The Kernel Peak: At my Limit (Unknown Universal Series) (2008) Digital print
*each print is numered with a valid activation code or serial number to unlock a given software application