Use this kind of Sky FORUM was created to operate as an open forum to attract radical material relative to the ambitions of the Use this kind of Sky publication. Similarly, as a vehicle accessible through the internet it is more democratic, it is free at the point of access and as such also suggests it can be available to a very wide international audience.

Forum is raditionally a place to meet, exchange ideas, listen to argument, present radical, innovative and critical ideas. But it is also a space to test the temperature of current artistic, social and political thought. Use this kind of Sky FORUM offers a space for such textual material within both the specific and wider contexts of art production and reception. The intention is to develop a continuous programme of challenging texts from contributors that engage with and provoke current issues and concerns. The online publication usethiskindofsky.com launched in 2005 took as its focus the theme of antagonism, emphasizing the necessity for an ongoing process of critical action in relation to ‘privileged authority’ and its determination to maintain a certain status quo – and in doing so to re-affirm the necessity and for that matter the right to criticize and disrupt as a means to the development of progressive ideas.

The pre-2008 explosion of surplus money, primarily emanating from the banking sector led to the over the commodification of the art object, the acquisition had overtaken critical appraisal. This activity has been supported by most mainstream media cultural outlets, however, with the collapse of the primary source of acquisition and the consequential reassessment of the potential for the production and dissemination of the artwork comes the space for a renewed critical engagement.

By opening up the FORUM to the submission of texts we aimed to develop a ‘collection’ of material that re-establishes the notion of art that engages with important contemporary concerns.