Symposium – Jaha Koo

Welcome to a panel talk and conversation that celebrates the artistic work of the recipient of The International Ibsen Award 2026, Jaha Koo.

Through a unique artistic language that combines theatre, music, video and technology, Jaha Koo explores questions of identity, migration, belonging and memory. His works invite audiences into spaces of reflection, empathy and encounter, creating theatrethat is at once deeply personal and profoundly political.

We have invited Jaha Koo close collaborators, scholars and curators who have followed and engaged with his work over many years. Together with the audience they will reflect on the artistic trajectory of Jaha Koo, discuss the ideas and experiences that shapehis practice, and explore why his work resonates so strongly with audiences around the world, often creating the “space in between” that lies at the heart of the International Ibsen Award 2026 criteria.

Whether you are already familiar with Jaha Koo’s work or are encountering it for the first time, this symposium offers a unique opportunity to enter into the curious world of Jaha Koo and to explore the artistic vision behind one of contemporary theatre’s most compelling voices.

In the panel:

Corinna Humuza, artistic Director of Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussel.
Kritof van Baarle, dramaturge, researcher and head of the drama training programme at KASK & Conservatorium in Gent, Belgium.
Bettina Kogler, theatre manager at BIT Bergen International Theatre in Bergen, Norway.
Kee Hong Low, creative director at Factory International in Manchester, UK and committee memeber of The International Ibsen Award since 2022. Kee Hong will also moderate the panel.

Criteria – The International Ibsen Award 2026

In a world too often positioned through the ‘for’ and ‘against’, The International Ibsen Award 2026 rewards the imagining of theatre as the space inbetween - as a site for assembly, a place to envision and inspire what we might not yet know. The practice of theatre made through compassion and kindness, so critically needed for our times. The experience of art as a reminder of the human capacity to nurture and share beauty, hope and joy, as new ways of being and seeing. Theatre forging time and space for the reflection of the ongoing quiet works that are democracy in action.