Jaha Koo (; born 1984) is a South Korean theatre-maker, composer and video artist based in Ghent, Belgium. His performances combine documentary theatre, music, video, autobiographical material and technological objects. His work frequently explores South Korean history, migration, cultural identity, economic inequality and the effects of colonialism and modernization.
Koo is best known for the Hamartia Trilogy—Lolling and Rolling (2015), Cuckoo (2017) and The History of Korean Western Theatre (2020)—and for Haribo Kimchi (2024). In 2026, he received the International Ibsen Award, becoming its first recipient of Asian descent.
Early life and education
Koo was born in South Korea in 1984. He studied theatre at the Korea National University of Arts and later completed a master's degree at DAS Theatre, part of the Amsterdam University of the Arts.
While studying at the Korea National University of Arts, Koo became interested in the dominance of Western theatre history within Korean theatre education. He later connected this experience to broader questions concerning colonial history, cultural identity and the development of modern Korean theatre.
Career
Koo developed an interdisciplinary performance practice in Europe, combining theatre, electronic music, video, documentary research and technology. His performances often connect personal experiences with political and social events in modern South Korean history.
Between 2015 and 2020, he created the Hamartia Trilogy. Its title refers to the Greek dramatic concept of hamartia, generally understood as a tragic error or flaw. The trilogy examines how colonialism, Western cultural influence and rapid economic modernization continue to affect contemporary South Korean society and individual lives. The trilogy consists of Lolling and Rolling, Cuckoo and The History of Korean Western Theatre. The three works combine documentary and autobiographical material with music and video. Robotic objects are used as performers in Cuckoo and The History of Korean Western Theatre.
The International Ibsen Award committee described Koo's theatre as a space for reflection, assembly and political imagination. He was the first recipient of Asian descent and the youngest recipient in the award's history.
Select works
Lolling and Rolling (2015)
Lolling and Rolling, the first part of the Hamartia Trilogy, premiered in 2015. Combining performance, video, music and documentary material, the work examines the relationship between language, education and cultural power in South Korea. The performance considers the social pressure to acquire standardized American English pronunciation and the physical procedures sometimes imposed on children in pursuit of linguistic conformity. Koo connects these practices to broader questions about American cultural influence and the position of the English language in South Korean society.
Cuckoo (2017)
Cuckoo premiered in 2017 as the second part of the trilogy. In the performance, Koo appears alongside three modified Cuckoo-brand rice cookers programmed to speak, argue and sing. In an interview with The Guardian, Koo said that altering rice cookers to make them talk was difficult and some experiments resulted in their explosion.
The work begins with the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the International Monetary Fund's financial intervention in South Korea. It examines the social consequences that followed, including unemployment, economic insecurity, isolation, depression and suicide. Koo experienced the financial crisis as a teenager. In Cuckoo, he connects memories of the crisis and the loss of friends with the wider political and economic history of South Korea. The pressure cooker functions both as an everyday domestic object and as a metaphor for the pressures experienced within Korean society. The performance combines Koo's monologue with conversations involving the rice cookers, projected images, documentary material and electronic music. Andrew P. Street of The Guardian described Koo's use of talking rice cookers as an unconventional approach to depicting the human consequences of South Korea's economic crisis. Cuckoo has toured internationally and has been presented in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America.
The History of Korean Western Theatre (2020)
The History of Korean Western Theatre premiered in 2020 and completed the Hamartia Trilogy. The performance examines the influence of Western and Japanese cultural systems on the formation of modern Korean theatre. The work grew partly from questions Koo developed while studying theatre history in Seoul. He observed that his education focused primarily on Western playwrights and theatrical traditions, while Korean traditional and folk performance received comparatively little attention. The performance combines video, soundscapes, documentary storytelling, autobiographical anecdotes and robotic objects. It considers how Korean theatre history has been defined through colonial and Western frameworks and asks how a different understanding of Korean theatre might be imagined. Writing in Cult MTL, Savannah Stewart described the work as an exploration of influence, identity and the continuing effects of Western and colonial imperialism on Korean theatre and society.
Haribo Kimchi (2024)
Haribo Kimchi premiered in June 2024. The performance is set around a pojangmacha, a type of late-night street-food stall found in South Korea. During the performance, Koo prepares food for audience members while telling stories about migration, cultural assimilation, racism, homesickness and the relationship between food and memory. The work features a snail, a Haribo gummy bear and a robotic eel as characters. It combines live cooking, video, electronic music, computer-generated voices and robotic performance. Haribo Kimchi draws on Koo's experiences of leaving South Korea and living in several European cities. It uses food to explore displacement and the ways migrants negotiate their cultural identity. Kimchi and Haribo sweets function as contrasting symbols of Korean and European cultural experience. In de Volkskrant, theatre critic Annette Embrechts wrote that Koo combined childhood memories and Korean cooking with stories of departure, homesickness and the feeling of belonging nowhere. Reviewing the work for The Straits Times, Clement Yong described food in the performance as representing emotion, labour, history and cultural memory, and highlighted Koo's use of video, electronic music, surreal characters and the robotic eel.
Artistic style and themes
Koo's practice moves between documentary theatre and autofiction. His performances commonly combine original electronic music, projected video, historical research, autobiographical narration and technological objects. Rather than treating technology solely as a theatrical tool, Koo frequently presents machines and domestic objects as performers. The talking rice cookers in Cuckoo, the origami robot in The History of Korean Western Theatre and the robotic eel in Haribo Kimchi participate in the dramatic structure alongside human performers.
Recurring themes in Koo's work include South Korean political and economic history, migration, loneliness, cultural identity, capitalism, colonialism and the relationship between Eastern and Western cultural systems. Humour, popular culture and technological experimentation are often used to approach politically or emotionally difficult subjects.
Following the announcement of the 2026 International Ibsen Award, the Belgian newspaper De Standaard characterized Koo's theatre as politically relevant, contemporary and melancholic, noting its combination of talking rice cookers, loneliness and South Korea's colonial history.
Awards and recognition 2017 – Young Art Support Amsterdam Award 2026 – International Ibsen Award 2026 – Hong Jin-Ki Creator Award, culture and arts category
References
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