Your show is titled The History of Korean Western Theatre. What exactly do you mean by Korean Western theatre?
In 2008, South Korea celebrated the centenary of Korean theatre. On that occasion, I realised that under this label, the celebration was actually about a certain kind of Western theatre, in which the name of Shakespeare was omnipresent. In fact, if you ask South Koreans what theatre means to them, there is a strong chance they will talk about Western theatre. Why this bias? What does it reveal about the invisibilisation of Korea’s actual theatrical tradition? To understand it, we need to return to the historical context. Until 1945, Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. It was the Japanese Empire that introduced Western theatre to the country, through plays performed by Japanese artists. It was not truly Western theatre, but rather a form of colonial theatre. Under the influence of this cultural imperialism, Korea did not have the opportunity to modernise autonomously. The History of Korean Western Theatre is part of a trilogy, the Hamartia Trilogy, which reflects on imperialism and its various forms: linguistic imperialism in Lolling and Rolling, economic imperialism in Cuckoo, and cultural imperialism in The History of Korean Western Theatre. One of the driving threads of this trilogy is to measure the tragic weight of the past on the present, to trace events back in order to grasp the origins of the current situation. I borrow the word hamartia from Aristotle: in Greek tragedy, it refers to a character’s flaw that leads to their downfall. Since this is the final part of the trilogy, I also try to open up perspectives for future generations. All the more so as I became a father while working on the play, which inevitably led me to think about the future in a slightly different way.
How did you work on a show that focuses on such a long period—from 1908 to the present day?
Like all the shows in this trilogy, it took me two years. At first, I didn’t know how to approach it. I had only a few initial inspirations. When I began working on Lolling and Rolling, things started to fall into place and the overall structure of the trilogy became clear to me. As an artist, I create transdisciplinary forms that incorporate video, music, and robots. Since I generally write the texts, make the videos, and compose the music entirely on my own, it takes a great deal of time. I draw inspiration from a wide range of sources: films, archival images, music videos, even fashion shows. For The History of Korean Western Theatre, I chose to work in a solo format because it’s a form I like: it allows me to sidestep the question of the director, whose position of authority often makes me uncomfortable. My shows combine intimate and collective narratives. My artistic research is always oriented from the individual towards larger history. I belong to a generation that was deeply affected by the economic crisis that struck South Korea in 1997, causing unemployment and youth suicide rates to soar. I myself lost several close friends. My theatre seeks to trace events back in order to understand their causes.
You left the Republic of Korea to settle in Europe. You currently live in Belgium. What made you decide to leave your birth country?
When I was in Korea, I was studying theatre theory. I was doing research, writing a thesis and articles for academic journals. At the same time, I was already a musician and was making my own videos. I wanted to become a multimedia artist and make a living from my art. I was drawn to performance. I wanted to appear on stage while developing a transdisciplinary theatrical practice. I created my first performances, but I struggled to find my place because the Korean scene at the time was very conservative. In secondary school, I remember composing a song titled “Where is my Confidant?” because I couldn’t find anyone with whom to share my work and my passion. Moreover, both theatre companies and artistic institutions were very hierarchical and authoritarian, reflecting Korean society at large. I found it difficult to create and to thrive in such environments. I decided to leave in order to see the world and broaden my horizons. I went first to Berlin, then to Amsterdam, where I enrolled in the DasArts Master’s program at DAS Theatre. I spent four years in the Netherlands, during which I had time to think about what would become my Hamartia Trilogy. I later moved to Brussels, where I began working professionally within Belgian institutions. Living in Europe gave me a certain distance from which to look at my own country. I was able to compare its problems with those of other countries. I also came to reflect on my identity as a non-European, a cultural exile escaping the conservative and capitalist society of South Korea. My interest in politics naturally merged with the artistic means I was using—performance, music, video, robotics.
Interview conducted by Simon Hatab in April 2026