Static is a company directed by the architect, Paul Sullivan and artist, Becky Shaw. The development and distribution of ideas, communication with an audience and the growth of a critical sphere are processes to which Static hopes to contribute, through a range of deliberately varied, and sometimes conflicting, activities. Art organisations always negotiate through a range of decisions: whether to be privately funded or state supported; to be peer-focused or to seek new audiences; to be artist-led or institutional. Static is aware of these dichotomies and strives to create a unique position from which to contribute to a dialogue between production and reception.

The Static Pamphlet, an arena developed for criticism and comment about local, national and international visual culture, was designed to generate content at two speeds: commissioning essays and providing a context for rapid response reviews and letters. Presented here is a selection of the year’s essays in their chronological order of web publishing. Accompanying them in webtime was a host of comments, arguments and criticisms which are still archived online and which we encourage you to visit.

The new online Pamphlet, launched February 2006, will present essays on ‘private life’. The commissions present authors with an opportunity to develop new ideas, or to communicate existing research. It provides a vehicle that attempts to work outside of academic compartments, and offers the possibility of seeing a ‘larger picture’ through a deceptively simple theme.