A Scroll. A Story. A Sentence.

About

A Scroll. A Story. A Sentence.
Round not Square presents Matthew Baker

March 7 – 30, 2024

Opening⎢Thurs. March 7, 18 - 21 hr

Thurs. + Fri. 11 - 18 hr / Sat. 11 - 15 hr

einBuch.haus / Florastr. 61, 13187 Berlin 

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Round not Square is a unique publishing house based in Berlin, Germany. The focus is on scrolls and while this format has a long history throughout different cultural traditions, the possibilities that arise in storytelling and the art of book design through this freedom of format were long dormant but are indeed immense. The program reaches from stories for children and artist booksto graphic novels—anything that makes sense on a scroll without limits. All scrolls are produced and hand-bound in Berlin-Wedding, Germany. 

To coincide with the 2024 release of the unlimited edition of 'The Sentence' by New York-based author Matthew Baker, einBuch.haus will present Round not Square's new artists’ book 'The Sentence' as well as selected earlier titles during the exhibition ‘A Scroll. A Story. A Sentence’.

For 'The Sentence', Matthew Baker has created a narrative set in a single sentence and laid out in a sentence diagram, a linguistic format, over 25 meters in length. This unique approach to graphic storytelling plays with the meaning of the word 'sentence' as well as the importance of structure and rules as the fabric of human society. The highly structured, grammatical approach of ‘The Sentence‘ reflects the character of its hero, a scientist living in near-future America who inadvertently comes into conflict with an emerging repressive regime. Riley, an orderly, security-conscious man, finds refuge with a commune of underground anarchists who are planning the uprising he never wanted. 'The Sentence' is exciting, funny, subtle, and sinister at the same time as a story, but in addition, Matthew Baker builds a second, metaphorical level of storytelling by forcing this "sentence" into a strict system of grammatical notation, into a socially recognized corset, an order that does not tolerate anarchy, even though the hero of the story needs it to survive, as perhaps does society as a whole.

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Matthew Baker has written and published children's books and novellas and sold his stories to major magazines and film studios. He loves experimental work, both offline and online. Named one of "10 Storytellers to Watch" by Vanity Fair, he is a pleasure to read in any format.