The Fountain is a performance series that takes place within, and in dialogue with, Ivan Cheng’s new commission Casemates. For this production, Cheng cast two local performers and collaborated with a psychopomp, who gathered Mudam’s ghostly presences as part of the performance’s conceptual development.

Within the scripted work, the two performers embody a public and a private computer in an entertaining romp. The Fountain further extends the artist’s inquiry into shifting tensions between information systems and histories as well as machinic and human forms of memory. It echoes the question posed to visitors in the installation: what files on your phone and computer do we consider valuable?

The premiere, featuring Ivan Cheng, took place on 7 and 8 March 2026. After a solo performance on 28 March 2026, the series will continue with both performers through 17 May 2026. Please see here (link) for all performance dates.

Biography:

Ivan Cheng (1991, Sydney) has presented solo exhibitions and performances at institutions including Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation, London; Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna; Shedhalle, Zurich (2025); Monash University Museum of Art, Naarm/Melbourne (2024); Lafayette Anticipations, Paris; OCT0, Marseille; Frascati, Amsterdam; Against Sun and Dust, Pesaro (2023); Le Magasin, Grenoble; MAXXI, Rome; Centrale Fies, Dro; Zirka, Munich (2022); Mother Culture, Los Angeles (2021); Volksbühne, Berlin (2020); Oude Kerk, Amsterdam; Belvedere 21, Vienna; Nacionalinė dailės galleria, Vilnius (2019). He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions and festivals including at Mind Eater Festival, Oslo (2024); Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam; gta exhibitions, Zurich (2023); Liquid Architecture, Melbourne; Anonymous Gallery, New York (2022); Chateau Shatto, Los Angeles; Maison Populaire, Montreuil; Les Urbaines, Lausanne; Zurich Moves, Zurich (2021); Espace 3353, Geneva (2019); Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem; MuHKA, Antwerp (2018) and De Appel, Amsterdam (2017). In 2025 he was the recipient of The Mondrian Prize. In an ongoing series of novels, Cheng uses the vampire genre to deal with theatre: Confidences/Baseline (TLTRPreß, 2021), Confidences/Majority (After 8 Books, 2022), Confidences/Oracle (OCT0, 2024), Confidences/Production (MUMA/After 8 Books, 2024). Ivan Cheng lives and works in Amsterdam.