I AM NOT OKAY

I AM NOT OKAY explores how societal expectations, gazes, and rules are inscribed on female-marked bodies. The starting point is the Korean concept of Han (한) – a complex feeling encompassing pain, anger, loss, endurance, and unspoken experiences.

Through dance, language, live music, and live camera footage, the body becomes an archive: it remembers, adapts, controls itself – and ultimately begins to defy familiar rules.

I AM NOT OKAY

Installation dance theatre / performance by MÜN Collective

December 17, 2026, 7:00 PM

December 18, 2026, 7:00 PM

Katakomben-Theater Essen

Tickets:

€18 regular price

€12 reduced price

Discount for pupils, students, trainees and persons with appropriate proof of eligibility.

Ticket link:

https://rausgegangen.de/events/i-am-not-okay-0/

Recommended for ages 16 and up

About the piece

Who decides when a body is "okay"?

I AM NOT OKAY is an installation-based dance and performance work by MÜN Kollektiv about societal expectations, self-control and the traces they leave on the body.

The starting point for this work is the Korean concept of Han (한) . Han cannot be directly translated. It describes a feeling of pain, anger, loss, endurance, and experiences accumulated over a long period, which could not be expressed or resolved. In the performance, Han is not understood as a fixed cultural explanation, but rather as a starting point for exploring how social experiences are stored and transmitted through the body.

At the center is the female-marked body : a body that is observed, judged, corrected, and pressured to conform. Ideas of beauty, behavior, femininity, and social belonging don't just exert their influence from the outside. They become routines, gestures, and physical habits—and ultimately, forms of self-control.

The work connects personal memories with historical and social traces from South Korea. At the same time, it opens these questions up to a German and international context. The aim is not to equate different societies, but rather to make visible recurring mechanisms of perception, normalization, adaptation, and control.

Dance, language, live music, objects, and live camera footage create a space in which the positions of observer and observed are constantly shifting. The camera magnifies details, alters perspectives, and makes visible how quickly a body can become an image—and an image the norm.

The body appears as an archive . It stores movements, rules, memories, and survival strategies. But what happens when this body no longer automatically follows the rules inscribed within it?

I AM NOT OKAY picks up where the familiar “It’s alright” is no longer sufficient – and the phrase “I am not okay” becomes a way to become visible, to formulate resistance and to take a stand.

Artistic Team

Artistic Direction / Performance: Minju Kim

Co-director / Performance: Moonjoo Kim

Live music / performance: Este Kirchhoff

Production: Maribel Medina Rodriguez

Technical direction: Jan Leschinski

The first development and showing phase of the project took place in Seoul in 2026.

Dramaturgy: Kim Se-in

Stage production / Design: Park So-young

Costume: Min Cheon-hong

Light: Kim Yoon-hee

Lighting Operator: Ahn Hee-won

Video / Camera: Kim Pan-jung

Graphic design: Gureumson Dongne

Online communication: Kim Do-hye

Photography: Oh Yong-jin,jiyu Kim

Development

The project was developed in 2026 between South Korea and Germany .

In August 2026, a first version was shown at the Mullae Arts Factory Box Theater in Seoul . The experiences gained there, discussions with the audience, and the artistic research are being incorporated into the further development of the German version.

The performances in December 2026 at the Katakomben-Theater Essen continue this research and transfer it into a new social and cultural context.