Ivan Cheng considers computers as service workers. ‘The Fountain’ is a scripted dialogue between a public and a private computer, originally performed by two dancers and punctuated with songs. For Serralves, Cheng reworks the piece as a solo performance, taking on the role of its key performer in a virtuosic monologue about ownership, memory and letting go. Moving through the gallery, Cheng uses his voice and body extensively, occasionally breaking into song, while continuously inviting the audience into the work, addressing those who are both present and absent.

The work extends his ongoing interest in what it means to reproduce a performance, a memory or a persona, and asks us to consider what we choose to keep: what files on our phones and computers do we consider valuable? For this iteration, Cheng is joined by regular collaborator Arvo Leo as camera operator and wears clothes by Good & Bad. ‘The Fountain’ forms part of a series in dialogue with ‘Casemates’, commissioned by Mudam, Luxembourg and TEA, Tenerife, as part of PIT – Perform, Inform, Transform.


Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency(EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.