10€ - 7€ (under 30 - over 60)

Jaha Koo

Cuckoo

10 September | h 9:45 pm
11 September | h 8:45 pm
La Pelanda – Studio 1
performance
1 h

in English and in Korean with subtitles in italian and English

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.

Jaha Koo is a South Korean theatre/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 closely interweave politics, history and his own personal issues. Since 2014, Koo has been developing his Hamartia Trilogy which focuses on the inescapable past that tragically affects our lives today. The first part of the trilogy, Lolling and Rolling, was premiered by Zürcher Theater Spektakel in 2015. The second piece, Cuckoo, was premiered at Steirischer Herbst Festival in 2017. The final part of the trilogy, The History of Korean Western Theater (working title), will be premiered in 2020 (executive producer: CAMPO).
Koo majored in theatre studies (BFA) at Korea National University of Arts and studied at DasArts (MA) in Amsterdam. GuJAHA is the pseudonym of Jaha Koo as a music producer. His most recent EP was Copper and Oyster in 2015.


www.gujaha.com


concept, direction, text, music e video Jaha Koo
performance Hana, Duri, Seri and Jaha Koo
cuckoo hacking Idella Craddock
scenography and media operation Eunkyung Jeong
dramaturgical advice Dries Douibi
production Kunstenwerkplaats Pianofabriek
executive producer CAMPO
coproduction Bâtard Festival
support CAMPO, STUK, BUDA, DAS, eNoorderzon/Grand Theatre
cuckoo was realized with the support of de Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissi