Jaha Koo

Jaha Koo (he/him) is a South Korean theater/performance maker, music composer and videographer. His artistic practice oscillates between multimedia and performance, all of which include his own music, video, text and installation. His works are closely interwoven with politics and history, especially taking an interest in the political landscape and cultural identity of East Asia. He majored in theatre studies (BFA, 2012) in Seoul and settled down in Europe, studying independent theatre (MA, 2016) in Amsterdam.

His representative work, Hamartia Trilogy was a long-term project consisting of Lolling and Rolling(2015), Cuckoo(2017), and The History of Korean Western Theatre(2020). This trilogy thematically focuses on how the inescapable past tragically affects our lives today. These pieces are stories about linguistic Imperialism, economic Imperialism, and theatrical Imperialism, and he paid attention to the tragic flaws of contemporary South Korea.

His international tour that began in Europe in 2015 has expanded to Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. Currently, he creates works in the Netherlands and Belgium. He is preparing for a new work with Art Center CAMPO (Gent), aiming at its premiere in 2023. GuJAHA is the pseudonym of Jaha Koo as a music composer.