Bianca van der Schoot
Bianca van der Schoot (Eindhoven, 1973) is a Dutch theatre-maker, performer and actor known for her experimental, visual approach to theatre. She graduated from the Mime Opleiding in Amsterdam in 1999 and since 2000 has worked with Suzan Boogaerdt as the artist duo Boogaerdt/VanderSchoot (BVDS). Their work sits at the intersection of performance art, theatre and visual art, exploring themes such as the influence of visual culture and technology on people. Through a gender-conscious lens, BVDS examines how different realities, whether virtual worlds or dream worlds, interact with their human user.
Van der Schoot previously co-directed the production Time for Joy with Eline Arbo.
In their early work, such as the series Visual Statements (2011–2014), BVDS focused on the impact of the society of the spectacle and the representation of the female body. Productions such as Bimbo and Hideous (Wo)men confronted audiences with alienation through media and the sexualisation of women. In 2015 Van der Schoot was appointed artistic director of the Ro Theater, a position she relinquished in 2016 when the company merged into Theater Rotterdam. She stayed on as a theatre maker and member of the artistic team.
BVDS later developed projects such as Future Fossils and Rooms for Transformation, a series of installation-based, performative works inviting audiences to experience collective rest and introspection through sleep rituals and sound performances. Their most recent work is the musical video installation SONGOFSONGS (2024), a queer, eco-feminist retelling of the Song of Songs, built on the idea that activism, ecological activism included, can begin with paying attention to what you love.
Beyond their theatre work, BVDS presented their first exhibition, Travelling Without Moving, at TENT Rotterdam in 2022, and in 2024 the exhibition WOMBTOMBS was shown at MU Hybrid Art House in Eindhoven.
Boogaerdt/VanderSchoot works closely with theatre maker Susanne Kennedy of the Volksbühne in Berlin. This has led to co-productions including Hideous (wo)men (2015), Women in Trouble (2017), Coming Society (2018), Ultraworld (2020) and Jessica, an incarnation (2022). At the heart of these productions lies their shared inquiry into the body as a neutral object and as a vehicle for questions of identity within a technological, post-human context.
Alongside her work with Boogaerdt/VanderSchoot, Van der Schoot has regularly worked as a director and adviser for other companies, such as De Warme Winkel and Toneelgroep Oostpool. In 2024, for instance, she directed Myrthe Siebenga zoekt een kamer for De Warme Winkel. Her multidisciplinary approach and focus on physical transformation make her a unique voice in contemporary theatre.
