The general gender [Obs.] = The common sort (of people).
(OED) Hamlet.

The general constitutes both the site of a universal quality as well as a collection of the particular. As an idea or shape, it is commonly understood as an inferior mode of description yet the general, uneasily allied with both despotism and democracy, wields an ambiguous authority of its own. Static 8 sets out to probe the power and authority of the general while recognizing the potential for open possibilities that lie in what might be referred to as the undefined, indistinct or even unexceptional. ‘Never alone / Did the King sigh,’ says Shakespeare’s Claudius ‘but with a general groan’ (Hamlet, III, 3). The King, like the military general, is someone who has overall authority but whose supremacy rests dubiously on the plurality and willed consensus of those whose voices are contained in his command. By what means does the general give form? Does it unite, highlight, corrode or simply blur the points of distinction? And what role does it have in the ethos of liberty and coercion? Bearing on the condition of the interdisciplinary in its implicit invocation of ‘General Studies,’ this issue of Static invites contributors to address the possibilities and paradoxes embodied by the general.

The visual identity of the issue was designed by Polimekanos. The image combines two visual elements that symbolize the abstract concept of ‘general’. One is the graph of the Gaussian normal distribution, used in statistics to analyse the norm and deviations from it, the other is a grid screen used in printing to create the illusion of different shades when using a solid colour.

The submission deadline is 1 June 2008. Please send your queries and submissions to [log in to unmask]

Static 8 General welcomes diverse formats of submission. Please contact the editors, Christien Garcia and Alice Gavin, regarding technical details before submitting your work. Submission guidelines and further information about Static can be found atwww.static.londonconsortium.com.