Valid Languages for the Intersection

Over the past decade, Jaha Koo has consistently explored the aesthetic and linguistic possibilities of the performing arts through non-human performers, multimedia, and robotics. In his previous works, Cuckoo, which staged a rice cooker as an actor, and The History of Korean Theater, which featured an origami robot, he demonstrated how non-human performers can emerge as theatrical agents. He has also experimented with the staging of scenography, music, and video media, continuing his research into the expansion of theatrical language and interdisciplinary practice. This masterclass discusses how performance language materializes through the interaction of form and content, and how it acquires meaning within social and political contexts. It will serve as a platform to share artistic practice that seeks “valid performance language” in contemporary theater. Here, technology is not treated as a mere auxiliary tool but as a necessary force that enables new aesthetic systems and social utterances. Participants will be introduced to the research and production process of his upcoming work, Post-K-pop Practice (working title), and together explore the potential of valid performance language that emerges at the intersection of art and technology.