In sculpture ‘in the round’ refers to the shift from sculpting in ‘relief ’—carved against a ground—to sculpting a truly three-dimensional form that stands free, with all sides shown. In theatre ‘in the round’ refers to an audience being on at least three sides of the stage, able to view a performance in a more immersive manner, allowing for an active (at times disruptive) participation from the audience. A general meaning for the phrase is simply a case, issue (or theme) dealt with thoroughly, with all factors taken into consideration.
The project proposes to take a specific theme or issue and attempt to deal with it ‘in the round’. Acknowledging the limitations of print and its inherent two-dimensionality In the Round will present a series of interlinking perspectives to create an almost three-dimensional interrogation of a theme. Through multiple printed texts and images, digital outputs, live readings, performances and screenings, emerging gradually over the course of six months, a kind of intertextuality between contributions will be formed that begins to feel almost sculptural as more layers are added over time, each one reacting to the last in a continuing gesture of performativity.
Approaching a theme in three separate ways, in three distinct mediums (print, digital and live (performance)), might be compared to the reception from an audience on three separate plains, as in the theatrical reading of the term, perceiving different aspects of the same ‘production’ from three different angles or points of view. Continuing the dramatological framing the project, each volume of In the Round will be split into three ‘Acts’, each act pairing one writer with one artist. A digital commission of a short text and accompanying digital artwork will be published online as a ‘Prologue’, then a printed publication consisting of a text and accompanying printed artist commission will be sent to subscribers every other month. Each ‘Act’ will culminate in a live event to coincide with the printed publication launch.