The Fountainhead

Adapted from The Fountainhead, a novel that met with great success in the USA as early as 1943, and in Europe for some years now, Ivo van Hove's show questions the status of the artist in a capitalist society. There seem to be two paths open to him: to listen to the public in order to satisfy its most immediate tastes, or to listen only to himself in order to develop his own creativity, even if this means offending the public of his time. Setting her story in the world of architecture, Ayn Rand contrasts two personalities, one of whom appears to be largely inspired by the "revolutionary" architect Frank Lloyd Wright, clearly expressing a preference for art over commercialism. If, in her novel, Ayn Rand chooses sides, directing the reading towards the rugged individualism of the artist in struggle against the collectivism of a state that supports welfare parasites, Ivo van Hove is more interested in questioning than judging. He allows the audience to hear each other's arguments in a more balanced way, at a time when artistic production within a liberal system is being questioned, when a new world is being created before our very eyes, when new balances of power are being established. Once again, Ivo van Hove offers a theater made of subversive questioning and disturbing dilemmas.