Jaha Koo / Eunkyung Jeong / LOUD muziektheater – Born to be K to be POP
Saturday 5 June 2027, 20:00
Muziek
In his new production, Jaha Koo explores the political power of K-pop. With rap, dance, singing and spectacular video décor, he questions how pop culture can simultaneously be a capitalist system and a motor for protest. That K-pop is big business, we probably don't need to tell you anymore. For theatre maker and composer Jaha Koo it is also a medium full of contradictions: hypercapitalist and strictly controlled, yet a fertile ground for protest, solidarity and collective experience. When an army of K-pop fans takes action, the consequences are not to be underestimated: even Donald Trump experienced its effect during his presidential campaign in 2020. From that tension, Koo and Jeong create a compelling spectacle full of rap, dance and singing, against an impressive video décor. The key question: how can pop music become a breeding ground for new political ideas and alternative visions of the future? Discover the answer yourself on an evening full of catchy beats and dance moves. We welcome Jaha Koo for the first time since 2021, when he brought the final part of his Hamartia trilogy to our hall. With his permanent artistic partner Eunkyung Jeong, he consistently questions colonial and cultural power structures in his work. Recently, Koo's influence and artistic signature were internationally awarded with the International Ibsen Award 2026, often described as the Nobel Prize of theatre.
Performers
Jaha Koo, concept, regie, tekst, research | Eunkyung Jeong, scenografie | Dries Douibi, dramaturgie | Tom Daniels, technische leiding | LOUD Muziektheater (Gent), productie