Tuned Voices — ieva jakusa

IEVA JAKUSA PORTFOLIO

Ieva Jakusa is a Latvian, Amsterdam-based artist and designer working with media installations and print through a research-driven practice. Her work examines how folklore and ritual function as social systems that shape collective identity and material culture.

Drawing on her background in Latvia, where traditional practices have historically served as a tool for sustaining national identity, and her experience in the Netherlands, where cultural symbols are often commodified, she explores how tradition shifts between resistance, nationalism, and global circulation. Through multimedia installations and public programs, Jakusa reclaims traditional culture as a raw material, open to reinterpretation and evolution, inviting audiences to reflect on cultural heritage, nationalism, and capitalistic appropriation.

SELECTED WORK TUNED VOICES, 2025

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TUNED VOICES, 2025
9-channel audiovisual installation (9 min 30 sec)

Developed as an MA graduation project, Royal Academy of Art (KABK), The Hague.
Sound design: Radvlad
Singers: Ausma Ķēde; Egija Laura; Inese Roze; Ina Celitāne; Domeniks Slišāns; Ligita Slišāna; Madara Ziemele; Māris Čeičs; Tālis Karlsons
Project supervisors: Aurélie Lierman; Ramon Amaro

Presented at:
 Graduation Show, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, July 2025
 Gogbot Festival, Enchede, September 2025
 The Grey Space in the Middle, The Hague, January 2026

DESCRIPTION
Tuned Voices examines how traditional culture is often perceived as orderly, disciplined, and shaped to serve national identity. In Latvia, folk songs have long been presented as national treasures. Yet beneath these polished surfaces lies an institutionalised echo of oral traditions, reshaped to fit a homogenised sense of identity.

At the centre of the work is Pūt, vējiņi (Blow, Wind), a folk song that originated with simple lyrics sung in homes and taverns. In 1884, Andrejs Jurjāns arranged the song into a grand choral composition, transforming it into a key symbol of Latvian national identity.

Tuned Voices brings together recordings of nine Latvian folk singers, each performing a personal, oral rendition of the same song. Recorded separately, their voices are mechanically aligned in postproduction. Each voice begins in its raw, authentic state before being gradually autotuned and synchronised, reflecting the flattening and standardisation that occurs when living traditions are absorbed into national narratives. Tuned Voices explores the tensions between tradition and nationalism, and reclaims folklore as plural, unfixed, and resistant to the pressures of uniformity.

Tuned Voices video documentation trailer

Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2025

Tuned Voices, semi-circular installation with mirror and metal stools.
The windows were tinted with blue foil to create a more abstract light, supporting the character of autotune.

Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2025.

Tuned Voices, portrait of Ausma and Tālis.
Ausma was the oldest singer among the recorded participants; each person represented a different decade of life.

Royal Academy of Art (KABK), The Hague, 2025.

Tuned Voices installation interview posters and metal stools

Gogbot Festival, Enschede, 2025

Tuned Voices description booklets

Gogbot Festival, Enschede, 2025

Tuned Voices semi-circular installation

Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2025