Bert Schoeren

Bert Schoeren makes kinetic sculptures that move with the energy of the wind, water or sun, or through human action. Unpredictability is an important aspect of his works: you never know what’s going to happen next. That means you can spend a long time with them without getting bored. His wind sculptures bob with the variable movements of the air, and his mobiles dance calmly yet chaotically to the sun’s energy.

For the Children’s Biennale, Bert has designed the Bamboe Bibber Bos (Quaking Bamboo Forest). A gallery in the museum is filled with a jumble of thousands of bamboo canes. Within this “forest” is a labyrinth you can wander through. The canes hanging in the forest vibrate when you touch them. As you move through the maze, you’re immersed in a world of shaking and quaking, of alternating light and shadow, sound and silence. The deeper you go, the more chaotic things get. The Children’s Biennale is about experience and wonder. Entering a strange, out-of-the-ordinary environment allows you to be surprised. Your senses are stirred, and you’re challenged to interact and participate. Bert has attemped to turn bamboo canes into an environment that both alienates and stimulates visitors. You’re compelled to discover and explore by moving further into the forest. To make things more exciting and intense as you go, Bert has made the canes vibrate. So the deeper into the forest you get, the stronger the trail of vibrations you leave behind you. You see the canopy of bamboo overhead, you feel the trembling, and you hear the clicking and rattling of the canes.