Jaha Koo, recently honored with the prestigious International Ibsen award, describes his artistic practice as a search for “jelliness”—a metaphor for resilience. The award, established by the Norwegian government, carries a significant prize of 2.5 million kroner, or approximately £200,000. During our meeting in Oslo, Koo reflected on his life based in Belgium, explaining how the humble gummy bear symbolizes his need to adapt to shifting environments. When compressed, jelly changes shape but eventually rebounds, a quality he finds essential for navigating life outside his native South Korea. His new neighbours were unimpressed. Founded by the Norwegian government and rewarding the winner with a huge 2.5m kroner (£200,000), we meet the day after the ceremony for the Ibsen award.
This theme of cultural adaptation permeates his current production, “Haribo Kimchi,” which features a mobile Korean snack cart known as a pojangmacha. Koo explains that these stalls, which appear and disappear without permanent addresses, mirror the transient nature of modern life. Within the show, he explores his identity through the fusion of European gummies and traditional Korean kimchi. He humorously recalled his early days in Berlin, when a 10kg batch of his grandmother’s kimchi became “bloated like a dead whale” and ultimately exploded on his balcony, much to his neighbors’ dismay. The alternative would be a jar of kimchi but one of the many things you learn from Koo’s captivating theatre shows is that air travel and fermented vegetables can be a disastrous combo. Where Haribo gummies originated around a century ago, Koo still finds himself considered foremost as Korean by Europeans, despite spending many years in Europe. But when he returns to his original homeland he is not always seen as Korean either.
Koo emphasizes that kimchi represents a deep-seated connection to his roots, noting that he is part of a “kimchi diaspora” that maintains traditional food practices regardless of global location. His stage performances serve as sensory experiences, often involving a banquet for audience members that includes dishes like a soju-and-beer cocktail called somaek and kimchi pancakes. These culinary choices, he notes, carry significant emotional resonance, similar to the seaweed soup traditionally associated with Korean birthdays and maritime mythology. He does so while preparing an onstage banquet for two lucky audience members.
The performance also features eclectic, non-human co-stars, including a robotic eel and a singing gummy bear. Koo selected the eel as a symbol of the migratory journey, noting its instinct to travel afar before returning to its birthplace to die. This blend of performance art and culinary storytelling is designed to create a space for collective reflection. He describes the theater as a vital arena for solidarity, where audiences are encouraged to think together about the complexities of global society. Its past recipients include Lola Arias, Taylor Mac and Forced Entertainment.
In contrast to the warmth of “Haribo Kimchi,” his earlier production “Cuckoo” addresses the darker aftermath of the late 1990s financial crisis in South Korea. The piece explores the nation’s neoliberal shift following a $58 billion rescue package from the International Monetary Fund. Koo uses hacked, talking rice cookers as central characters to illustrate themes of economic inequality and isolation. The show includes an account of a friend’s suicide and critiques what he labels “economic imperialism,” specifically referencing the role of former US treasury secretary Robert Rubin through a pop-inspired musical segment.
Looking toward his future projects, Koo plans to shift his focus to the global influence of K-pop. He intends to examine the industry’s power as a cultural force, including its role in political movements, such as the 2024 protests against former President Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law. This upcoming work will mark a departure for the artist, as he intends to step away from performing to feature a cast of singers, further evolving his critique of how modern pop culture shapes our shared global reality.
