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, South Korean artist Jaha Koo experienced a deep sense of ‘Golibmuwon’ (고립무원). Twenty years ago a major economic crisis hugely impacted Jaha Koo’s generation of South Korean youth. ‘Golibmuwon’ is the untranslatable Korean word for the feeling of helpless isolation that arose for many. In bittersweet and humorous dialogues with Jaha’s clever rice cookers, Cuckoo takes you on a journey through the past two decades of Korean history, combining Jaha’s personal experiences with political events and reflections on happiness, economic crises, and mortality.
In English & Korean, with English surtitles.
Photo: Eunkyung Jeong
Jaha Koo – Concept, Direction, Text, Music, and Video
Hana, Duri, Seri & Jaha Koo – Performance
Idella Craddock – Cuckoo Hacking
Eunkyung Jeong – Scenography & Digital Support
Dries Douibi – Dramaturgical Advice
Bart Huybrechts – Technique
Kunstenwerkplaats Pianofabriek – Production
CAMPO – Executive Producer
Bâtard Festival – Co-production
Support provided by CAMPO, STUK, BUDA, DAS, SFAC & Noorderzon/Grand Theatre with the support of the Flemish Community.
Cuckoo contains footage of suicide, mature language, and explicit content. It is recommended for mature audiences.
This production contains strobes and flashing lights.
Mark Russell – Staff Festival Founder + Director
Meropi Peponides – Co-Creative Director/Producer-in-Residence
Kaneza Schaal – Co-Creative Director/Artist-in-Residence
Thomas O. Kriegsmann & Sami Pyne | ArKtype – Festival Producer
Iyvon E. – Producer, Symposium & Coming Attractions
Bryn Herdrich – Producer, Marketing & Public Programs
Kendall Masson – Director of Development
Brian Freeland – Director of Production
Sapphire Stubbs | general population – Marketing and Communications Strategy
John Seroff | GreenHouse Publicity Digital – Communications Manager, Copywriting & Strategy
FAILSPACE – Engagement and Social Media Lead
Blake Zidell & Adriana Leshko | Blake Zidell & Associates – Press Representation
Abigail Browde – Website Design
Joy Chen – Producing Fellow
Anastasia Ellis – Dramaturgy Fellow
Carolina Hurtado Castro – Artist & Presenter Services Fellow
Margot Anderson-Song – Public Programs Fellow
A heavy, affecting piece of documentary theater that masterfully wields its multimedia for both dark humor and piercing effect.
—Bakchormeeboy
Cuckoo serves as a documentary narrative that everyone should witness. Its originality shines through, challenging preconceptions by highlighting the power of three rice cookers as unlikely raconteurs.
—Medium
Jaha Koo
Jaha Koo (he/him, born in 1984) is a South Korean theater/performance maker, music composer and videographer who lives and works in Gent (BE). His artistic practice oscillates between multimedia and performance, encompassing his own music, video, text and robotic actors joining him on stage. Koo is well known for his ambitious Hamartia Trilogy, on which he worked over six years. This trilogy of solo works 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 tragically affects our lives today. In personal stories about family, growing up, migration, combined with political and societal-historical issues, he touches universal themes that find resonance in different countries and contexts all over the world. Currently, Jaha Koo is travelling with his new creation, Haribo Kimchi, that premiered in June 2024.
Under the Radar
Under the Radar is the United States’ premier festival of experimental theater and performance art. As a long-time New York City-based platform for cutting-edge work hailing from around the globe. Produced by ArKtype with Festival Director Mark Russell, UTR has been reimagined in its 20th annual season as a city-wide celebration that incisively speaks to our moment. Rather than being tied to a single host institution, Under the Radar’s current iteration is curated collaboratively with an array of renowned arts organizations and curators, each harnessing the connective nature of the festival format to introduce some of the world’s most innovative multidisciplinary voices to wider audiences. The 2025 edition of UTR will include over 33 distinct programs at 24 theater spaces, presenting more than 250 performances in only 16 days from January 4 to 19. The depth, breadth, and excellence of this year’s festival serves as proof that collaboration can power the American theater through this era of existential crisis into a reinvigorated future of conjoined artists ready to embrace diversity, challenge, and reinvention.
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