A journey through the last 20 years of Korean history told by a bunch of talkative rice cookers.

One day when his electric rice cooker informed him that his meal was ready, Jaha Koo experienced a deep sense of isolation. 'Golibmuwon' (고립무원) is an untranslatable Korean word expressing the feeling of helpless isolation that characterizes the lives of many young people in Korea today.

Twenty years ago there was a major economic crisis in South-Korea, comparable to the financial crash in the United States and Southern Europe in 2008. This crisis had a huge impact on the young generation to which South Korean artist Jaha Koo belongs. He witnessed many endemic problems including youth unemployment and socio-economic inequality. Rising suicide rates, isolation, acute social withdrawal and a fixation on personal appearance are but a few of the symptoms.

In bittersweet and humorous dialogues, Jaha and his clever rice cookers take you on a journey through the last 20 years of Korean history, combining personal experience with political events and reflections on happiness, economic crises and death.

About artist:
Jaha Koo (1984) is a South Korean theater/performance maker and music composer. His artistic practice oscillates between multimedia and performance, all of which include his own music, video, text and installation. His performances are closely interwoven with politics, history and his own personal issues. Since 2014, Koo has been working on his Hamartia Trilogy. This trilogy thematically focuses on how the inescapable past tragically affects our lives today. The first part of the trilogy, Lolling and Rolling, was first presented by Zürcher Theater Spektakel in 2015. The second piece, Cuckoo, premiered at the Steirischer Herbst Festival in 2017. Koo has been living and working in Belgium for the past few years. His final part of the trilogy, The History of Korean Western Theatre, premiered in the summer of 2020, and was his first production created at the Ghent-based and internationally touring arts center CAMPO. In 2021, he presented the trilogy as a whole for the first time. GuJAHA is the pseudonym of Jaha Koo as a music composer. His most recent EP was Copper and Oyster in 2015.

CREDIT

concept, direction, text, music & video Jaha Koo performance Hana, Duri, Seri & Jaha Koo cuckoo hacking Idella Craddock scenography & media operation Eunkyung Jeong dramaturgical advice Dries Douibi technical Korneel Coessens, Jan Berkmans, Bart Huybrechts (& Wim Clapdorp) production Kunstenwerkplaats Pianofabriek executive producer CAMPO coproduction Bâtard Festival support CAMPO, STUK, BUDA, DAS, SFAC & Noorderzon/Grand Theatre. Cuckoo was realized with the support of de Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie.