'Haribo Kimchi' premieres in Seoul this week
| Koo Jaha (Korea Arts Management Service) |
Koo Jaha, a Korean director, writer, composer and performer based in Europe, continues to explore what it means to live between cultures.
Following his acclaimed “Hamartia” trilogy — "Rolling and Rolling," "Cuckoo" and "A History of Korea" — Koo presents “Haribo Kimchi,” which premiered in Brussels last year and will be staged in Seoul from Thursday to Sunday at Quad in Daehangno, the city’s small theater district.
Often described as a hybrid form that merges music, video and robotic performers, Koo’s work navigates the conflicts and paradoxes of cultural assimilation while unfolding a bittersweet narrative that provokes thought and emotion.
In “Haribo Kimchi,” he again turns inward, locating his identity somewhere between Haribo gummy bears and kimchi — the quintessential Korean food.
“Food is one of the most primal and essential ways to express one’s identity,” Koo said during an interview in Seoul on Monday, adding that the piece reflects both his roots and the direction he is heading.
Set in a Korean-style street tent, the performance weaves together food, robots and video. On stage, a street food stall becomes a refuge for the displaced, where the sound of sizzling food and shared memories conjure the meaning of “home.” Two guests from the audience are invited to join the performance.
| "Haribo Kimchi" (Korea Arts Management Service) |
“Kimchi is an inborn part of my cultural DNA, while Haribo gummy bears represent an acquired taste I discovered after moving to Berlin,” he said. “Through this contrast, I wanted to express a sense of cultural identity that exists somewhere between Korea and Europe.”
A graduate of the Korea National University of Arts, Koo moved to Europe out of a curiosity that “perhaps the kind of performance medium or form I was imagining might exist outside Korea.”
He went on to study contemporary theater directing at the Academy of Theatre and Dance in Amsterdam and has since emerged as one of the most distinctive voices in Europe’s contemporary performing arts scene. In 2017, he received the Young Artfund Amsterdam Award in the theater and music category, with the jury praising his work for its power to make European audiences reflect on their own societies through Korea’s historical and tragic narratives.
Koo’s debut work, “Rolling and Rolling” (2014), developed during his graduate studies, examined Korea’s fixation on English and the unconscious imperialism behind it, earning invitations from several European festivals. His other works include “Cuckoo” (2017), which turned a rice cooker into a robotic performer to depict the loss of economic sovereignty, and “A History of Korean Theatre” (2020), tracing Korea’s modern theater scene shaped by Western influence.
"My work speaks about Korea, but audiences overseas tend to see their own stories in it,” he said.
| "Haribo Kimchi" (Korea Arts Management Service) |
Koo’s next project, slated for 2027, will turn to K-pop, titled "Born to be K to be POP." “It’s not about the K-pop we know now, but what might come after — what I call post-K-pop,” he said. “Through that idea, I want to look at the K-culture and K-pop as global phenomena, and examine the unseen dimensions that lie beneath their success.”
Unlike his previous works, Koo will not appear on stage for this production. He plans to hold auditions — not necessarily for professional performers, but for social activists, industry experts and members of the K-pop fandom.
The approach, he said, is part of his attempt to expand the boundaries of audience participation.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about how to blur boundaries — how to make those lines a little softer — and how to draw in audiences who might not usually be interested in the performing arts,” Koo said.
“Part of it is about bringing new people into the scene, but it’s also about developing the strength to cultivate my own audience. And, in a bolder sense, I want to create a kind of shock within the global performing arts scene.”
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