Jaha Koo
Haribo Kimchi
- 13.11 — 15.11 2026
- Performances
- TBA - Teatro do Bairro Alto
- 12€ (See discounts)
- ages 12+
- 1h10min
- In Korean and English with surtitles in English and Portuguese
A sensory journey through kimchi, memory, and identity, where absurd humour and melancholy reveal the bittersweet taste of belonging.
In Haribo Kimchi, we find ourselves in a pojangmacha, one of the typical late-night snack bars found on the streets of South Korea. There, we meet three characters—a snail, a gummy bear, and an eel—who take us on a culinary journey, exploring food as shelter for those dislocated from their culture.
In a series of intimate, absurdist anecdotes, they recount the evolution of kimchi culture, the bitter pain of unadulterated racism, the shame of trying to blend in, and the deep umami taste of home.
In a hybrid style that combines music, cutting-edge video, and robotic performers, Jaha Koo reflects on cultural assimilation with all its conflicts and paradoxes. In an exceptional performance that plays with all the senses, he serves up personal stories marinated in sweet-and-sour melancholy.
This show contains loud sounds and strong smells.
Credits
Concept, text, direction, music, sound & video Jaha Koo Performed by Gona, Haribo, Eel, Jaha Koo & two guests Dramaturgy Dries Douibi Scenography, research collaboration & media operation Eunkyung Jeong Artistic advisor Pol Heyvaert Technical coordinator Korneel Coessens Technicians Bart Huybrechts, Tom Daniels & Jasse Vergauwe Production coordinator Wim Clapdorp English proofreading Jason Wrubell Snail animation Vincent Lynen Produced by CAMPO Coproduced by 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 tax shelter of the Belgian Federal Government via Cronos Invest & the Flemish Government
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...