or-bits.com presents On the upgrade, during the Artists Books Weekend, London

Where

The Mews Project Space, 15c Osborn Street (alley behind the Whitechapel gallery),

London E1

When

Friday 22 September (5 – 9pm) to Sunday 25 September 2011 (10am – 7pm)

On the upgrade

is a new limited edition series in a box, a collection of unbound printed works in reply to their

online counterparts.

For this series (September 2011), six artists who had previously produced a work for our online

programmes – Patrick Coyle, Benedict Drew, Jamie George, Tamarin Norwood, Damien Roach

and David Rule – have been commissioned to create an extension of that very same work for

the printed format.

With this project or-bits.com is exploring a new territory, which is that of the printed page in

relation to the web space and its online activity of commission, production and display.

The result of this experimentation is in a customised white postal box designed by Ken Kirton

studio to be a container for works and thoughts orbiting around a centre.

‘In a time in which TO UPGRADE is a pervasive and round the clock demand – when we are

continuously badgered into getting an updated version of something that is already function-

ing; teased into searching for something newer and more ‘now’, of superior quality, faster and

more compatible: what might improvement, and, progress mean.’

Launch Event | Sunday 25 September, 4 – 6 pm

Magda Fabianczyk will present On defining a First Class Banana, make an apple a Royal

Gala, an ‘act for a consumable text’ which is part of her series The Edible Interventions.

This performance is devised to open up a ‘collective’ reflection on the relationship between

the distribution and classification of fruits and the requirements that constitute the value of

contemporary artworks.

Fabianczyk’s intervention will be interspersed with:

Tamarin Norwood’s reading We Go Like This (5pm) and Patrick Coyle’s performance Empty

Grey Squares (Registration) (5.30pm)

On the upgrade is available for purchase at the space, in the Common Room, and through our

website.

The sales will subsidise our future activities: the production of new online programmes, new

artists commissions and related off-site events.

More details about our activity can be found at www.or-bits.com

or-bits.com is an online curatorial platform for the production and distribution of new art-

works and critical writing. Since September 2009, or-bits.com has commissioned artists,

curators and writers to produce new works, projects and critical writing in relation to its pro-

grammes and the web-based nature of the platform.

or-bits.com’s mission is to support the production of new works and writing to instigate an ex-

ploration of the creative and critical possibilities of the web as language, medium and subject.

Its activity spans from web-based exhibitions to off-site projects.

What is an upgraded version of a work that exists online and was created for

the characteristics and aesthetic qualities of the web format? Many would

say to improve it ‘just go physical’

On the upgrade (September 2011)

Box containing limited edition artworks by Patrick Coyle, Benedict Drew, Jamie George, Tama-

rin Norwood, Damien Roach and David Rule.

Edition series of 50; published by or-bits.com; design by Ken Kirton studio

All texts have been set in Matrix, an early PostScript font, for its enhanced version of its low

resolution bitmap counterpart, Emigre

£150

Each edition is one of 50, signed and numbered on reverse.

List of works

Patrick Coyle, Empty Grey Squares (Registration), 2011, Re: Empty Grey Squares, 2010;

SIMPLICITY

Benedict Drew, hypnopomp, 2011, Re: The Visit, 2011; ACCELERATION

Jamie George, Various Yellows (Denim Badge Version), 2011, Re: Made in Great Britain,

PANTONE® 12-0633 TCX, Canary Yellow, 2010; SIMPLICITY

Tamarin Norwood, The Window Elegies, 2011, Re: Paper View and Nietszche Among the

Cows, 2010; ON-LOOKING Blog

Damien Roach, Michigan parachute/Kitchen/Arp 147, 2011, Re: Michigan parachute/

Kitchen/Arp 147, 2011; ACCELERATION

David Rule, Street View (Andrew, Jessie, Renée, Abi and Jason), 2011, Re: Street View,

2010; ON-LOOKING

Material specifications

Exterior Screen printed postal box with 21 mixed labels, 47 x 31.5 x 2.5 cm

Interior Laserjet print and glossy vinyl sticker on 250gsm Cyclus, 21 x 21 cm / Giclée print on

Hahnemhule 330gsm PhotoRag, 15.7 x 21.3 cm / Giclée print on Hahnemhule 330gsm PhotoRag,

15.7 x 21.3 cm / Set of 8 digitally printed postcards on 270gsm Colorset + risograph printed cover

on 170gsm Munken Polar, 13.7 x 9.7 cm, 8pp + 2pp cover, spineflex bound / Digitally printed

poster on Newsprint, 57.8 x 38 cm / 16pp publication, laserjet printed inner pages on 80gsm

Evercopy and risograph printed covers on 250gsm Cyclus, 57.8 x 38 cm, 16pp + 4pp cover, saddle

stitched

For further information about the editions, the artists and other enquiries please ask in the

space or write to editions@or-bits.com.