Haribo Kimchi

Jaha Koo

Live performance

maison Folie Wazemmes, Lille
Pass Latitudes
1h10

The surprising and savory taste of seaweed soup, the sharp sound of a knife slicing into a cucumber, the crackling of mushrooms cooking on a stove … In Haribo Kimchi, Jaha Koo cooks for us a live reflection on cultural assimilation, its tensions and paradoxes.

With Haribo Kimchi, we take a deep dive into a pojangmacha, a street cart found in the night−time streets of South Korea. We meet three characters: a snail, a gummy bear and an eel, who invite us on a culinary journey where food becomes a refuge for those who have been uprooted from their own culture. In a series of absurd, intimate anecdotes, the South Korean director and composer Jaha Koo tells us about the evolution of kimchi culture, the raw pain of racism, the shame of wanting to blend into a crowd, and the layered umami taste of one’s rediscovered home. Using a hybrid combination of music, video creation and robotic actions, he examines the tensions and paradoxes of cultural assimilation.

Accessibility infos :

Performance in English and Korean with French surtitles

→ A Korean meal will be offered to the public after the performance, prepared by the team at the Palais de Séoul restaurant, Lille. Reservations required by June 13, single ticket price for show + meal: 13€.

Within the framework of FIESTA – lille3000
With the support of Lieux Culturels Pluridisciplinaires de la Ville de Lille

Biography(s)

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 & two guests
Dramaturgy : Dries Douibi
Scenography, research collaboration & media operation : Eunkyung Jeong
Artistic advice : Pol Heyvaert
Technical coordination : Korneel Coessens
Technique : Bart Huybrechts, Babette Poncelet & Jasse Vergauwe
Production coordination : Wim Clapdorp
English proofreading : Jason Wrubell
Snail animation : Vincent Lynen
Production : CAMPO
Coproduction : 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), International Summer Festival 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
With the support of the taxshelter of the Belgian Federal Government via Cronos Invest & the Flemish Government