JKUBE
JKUBE
Jakob Gruhl is a museologist, musician and Sorbian artist and works at the interface of art, technology and creative mediation. As artist he works under the name jkube (dʒeɪ kuːb) across the fields of ambient, techno, electronica and hiphop. He involves his own sorbian rap and traditional sorbian music and as well as many soundscapes into his live sets and combines it with an audio visual and interactive approach.
He is co-developer of the software tools Sonic Moves and Mazetools, which combine multi-sensory approaches with artistic and musical forms of expression. As a creative producer, he is co-founder of Sonic Moves, Ectoplastic and ZiMMT e.V. as well as co-initiator of the Spatial Audio Network Europe (SANE). In his work with Ectoplastic he collaborated with the performer Tomoko Nakasato in audiovisual motion tracking performances.
Artist Biography
Jakob Gruhl (b. 1986 in Bautzen/Budyšin) is an electronic musician, composer, and music software developer working at the intersection of art, technology, and cultural mediation. Born into the Sorbian minority in eastern Germany, he grew up bilingually and has developed a distinctive artistic voice that weaves together ambient soundscapes, experimental electronics, and Sorbian cultural influences.
As electronic musician JKUBE, Jakob explores the possibilities of merging contemporary electronic music with the cultural heritage of the Sorbian people. He works as composer, lyricist, and performer of Sorbian-language electronic music, creating a unique sonic space where minority language and cutting-edge sound design intersect. His recent works include the interdisciplinary performances Take Off Sound (2023, with performer Tomoko Nakasato, SchneiderTM, and BIEST at Ausland Berlin) and Take Off Time (2024), the VR experience Modyssey – A Geometric Poem (2025), and the EP JKUBE "Reje" (2024).
He has presented his music at Sorbian cultural festivals including Witaj (2024) and Metasolis (2025), as part of the radio series "SerbPop" (2019, Radio Berlin Brandenburg), and in clubs, museums, and concert halls throughout Germany. His commitment to Sorbian cultural visibility extends to music production for public broadcasters RBB and MDR
A central aspect of Jakob's artistic practice is the exploration of immersive and spatial audio. His performances and compositions are specifically conceived for 3D audio environments and have been produced at the Center for Immersive Media Art, Music and Technology (ZiMMT) in Leipzig, where he serves as a founding member with focus on concept development and interdisciplinary project coordination. In 2021, he received the INITIAL scholarship from the Academy of Arts Berlin to further develop his artistic practice. Beyond performing, Jakob is co-developer of the music apps Mazetools and Sonic Moves, where he directly integrates his compositional insights into software design, creating feedback loops between artistic exploration and technological innovation.
Jakob is co-founder of Ectoplastic, a studio for multimedia and immersive musical productions, as well as co-initiator and project administrator of the Spatial Audio Network Germany and Spatial Audio Network Europe. Since 2023, he has served as a member of the Interdisciplinary Advisory Board for the City of Leipzig's Department of Culture. He lives and works in Leipzig and Halle.
Live performance together with Stephan Kloss at ZiMMT 2021 (c) ZiMMT e.V.
