Haribo Kimchi

Haribo Kimchi is the first performance part of SPRING Days, a new concept from SPRING Performing Arts Festival, in which activities are organized throughout the year in Utrecht with local partners.

Thet ticket sales for this performance were organized by our partner Theater Utrecht.

Theater Utrecht

The heady aromas of a soup simmering and steaming, the short, sharp sounds of a knife slicing spring onions at high speed, the hissing and sizzling of mushrooms on a scorching fire. In Haribo Kimchi, we find ourselves in a pojangmacha, a typical late-night snack bar that can be seen scattered across the streets of South Korea. There we meet several lost souls: A YouTuber, an eel, a toad and a rice cooker. They take us on a culinary journey, exploring food culture as a form of language that reveals the structure of a society. In several absurdist and touching anecdotes, they recount the diaspora of Kimchi culture, cannibalism during the great famine, the searing pain of unadulterated racism and the deep umami taste of home. 

After the Hamartia Trilogy (2021), in which he delved into the far-reaching imperialism in East Asia, the South Korean theatre maker and composer Jaha Koo returns to Utrecht with his latest creation. In his typical hybrid style, combining music, cutting-edge video and robotic performers, the artist reflects on cultural assimilation with all its conflicts and paradoxes. In an exceptional performance that plays with all the senses, Jaha Koo alters our perception of food for good.

https://www.campo.nu

Contextual programme

In addition to the performance itself, SPRING is also organizing a contextual programme with an aftertalk, a workshop and a reading group. Read more about the full context program here.

Aftertalk

After the performance on Saturday September 21, SPRING Academy, in collaboration with Theatre Utrecht, is organising an aftertalk with artist and performer Jaha Koo.

Reading Group on Food in South-Korean Literature

SPRING and bookstore Savannah Bay are cohosting a Reading Group on September 20 between 19:00 and 21:00 with the books The Vegetarian by Han Kang and I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee. Come together for a cozy Friday evening, where we collectively read stories that feature food and culinary practices as a main character.

Workshop ‘Storytelling through Kitchen Practices’ with Jaha Koo

Creator Jaha Koo will give a workshop on storytelling and ‘kitchen practices’ on Monday September 23.

Full context programme

Reviews

Haribo Kimchi received four stars in the Volkskrant! Annette Embrechts wrote: “Performer Jaha Koo cleverly mixes his childhood memories with Korean cooking in ‘Haribo Kimchi’. In the intimate solo performance, Koo shares his with computer music interspersed story of his departure from Korea, his homesickness, his feeling of being nowhere at home.” Read the full review here (in Dutch).

The performance also received four stars on 8weekly, in a review written by Gigi van Erven Dorens. “Haribo Kimchi turns the kimchi hype back into culture. In a playful, funny and honest way, Jaha Koo shows his story behind the hype and cultural charges of this delicious dish. After this performance, kimchi won’t taste the same.” Read the Dutch review here.

This performance is made possible by: