HARIBO KIMCHI
Jaha Koo (Gent / Seoul)
In English and Korean with German and English surtitles | Recommended for ages 12+
South Korea is on everyone’s lips worldwide – from street food, K-pop and cinema to cosmetics. Jaha Koo, however, turns his attention to lesser-known sides of the country. With subtle irony and documentary precision, the theatre artist, performer and filmmaker tells stories beyond the familiar images. His internationally acclaimed works explore Korean identity through the perspective of someone who has spent many years living between cultures. For his art of combining personal experience with social questions in a poetic and deeply human way, Jaha Koo received the International Ibsen Award in 2026, one of the most important honours in international theatre.
In HARIBO KIMCHI, Koo tells of the tension between his roots and the present. In a typical Korean street-food stall (pojangmacha), he prepares a dish and invites a few audience members to taste it. The simmering ingredients fill the space with Korean aromas, while Koo transforms the connections between palate, kitchen and culture into a multilayered stage language. As a cook on stage and through filmed anecdotes that lead as far as Brussels and Berlin, he uses gentle humour to show his search for a place between Europe and Korea, Haribo and kimchi. The piece also touches on loneliness, longing and experiences of discrimination. Yet the mirror he holds up to us is a smiling one. In the end, Koo must face the high-tech mischief of gummy bear, eel and snail – and the audience gets to taste the results of his cooking. A delicious evening!
Biography Jaha Koo
Jaha Koo (he/him) is a South Korean theatre/performance maker, music composer and videographer. His artistic practice oscillates between multimedia and performance, encompassing his own music, video, text, and robotic objects. His Hamartia Trilogy includes Lolling and Rolling (2015), Cuckoo (2017), and The History of Korean Western Theatre (2020). The trilogy represents a long-term exploration of the political landscape, colonial history and cultural identity of East Asia. Thematically, it focuses on structural issues in Korean society and how the inescapable past tragically affects our lives today. His newest creation Haribo Kimchi premiered in June 2024. Koo majored in Theatre Studies (BFA, 2011) at Korea National University of Arts and earned a master's degree (MA, 2016) at DAS Theatre in Amsterdam.
Credits
Concept, Text, Direction, Music, Sound & Video Jaha Koo Performance Gona, Haribo, Eel, Jaha Koo & zwei Gäste Dramaturgy Dries Douibi Scenography, Research collaboration & Media operation Eunkyung Jeong ´Artistic advice Pol Heyvaert Technical coordination Korneel Coessens Technique Bart Huybrechts, Tom Daniels, Jasse Vergauwe Produktionsleitung Wim Clapdorp English proofreading Jason Wrubell Snail Animation Vincent Lynen Creation Tangente St. Pölten, 7 June 2024
Co-Production CAMPO Koproduktion Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Rideau de Bruxelles, Theater Utrecht, SPRING festival (Utrecht), Festival d’Automne à Paris, Théâtre de la Bastille (Paris), Tangente St. Pölten – Festival für Gegenwartskultur, & Espoo theatre (Espoo), Internationales Sommerfestival Kampnagel (Hamburg), Sophiensaele (Berlin), Meet You Festival (Valladolid), Bunker (Ljubljana), National Theatre and Concert Hall Taipei, The Divine Comedy International Theater Festival / Teatr Łaźnia Nowa (Kraków) & Perpodium Support Taxshelter der belgischen Bundesregierung via Cronos Invest und der Flämischen Regierung
HARIBO KIMCHI (Foto: Bea Borgers)
Main Supporters
euro-scene leipzig is institutionally supported by the City of Leipzig and the Saxon State Ministry for Higher Education, Culture and Tourism. Co-financed by tax revenue on the basis of the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament.