Jaha Koo

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.

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.

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.

The History of Korean Western Theatre

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 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

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.

Selected works

Lolling and Rolling (2015) Cuckoo (2017) The History of Korean Western Theatre (2020) Haribo Kimchi (2024)