Dj sniff (Takuro Mizuta Lippit) is a musician and curator in the field of experimental electronic arts and improvised music. His musical work builds upon a distinct practice that combines DJing, instrument design, and free improvisation. His collaborations include Evan Parker, Otomo Yoshihide, Koichi Makigami, Jaap Blonk, ErikM, Paul Hubweber, Tarek Atoui, Ken Ueno, and Senyawa. He has been invited to perform and exhibit at CTM Berlin, Warsaw Autumn, Flow Festival Helsinki, REDCAT LA, March Meeting Sharjah, Jazz em Agosto Lisbon, MOCA Taipei. Over the years, his work has been released from labels in Lebanon, UK, France, Germany, Slovakia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Japan. His recent works Parallel Traces of the Jewel Voice (2022) and The Inverted Listening of Explosive Enemy Aircraft Sounds (2023) examine the critical roles that phonograph records played during WWⅡ in Japan and its colonized territories.
Takuro holds a B.A. in aesthetics and art history from Keio University, M.P.S. from NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program, and Ph.D. from De Montfort University Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Media. From 2007-2012, he was Artistic Director of STEIM – Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music, leading the institution’s research, artist in residency program, and concert series. Between 2012-2017, he was Visiting Assistant Professor at City University of Hong Kong School of Creative Media and served as Associate Professor at Kyoto Seika University Global Studies Course from 2020 to 2022. Currently based in LA, Takuro is the Co-Director of Asian Meeting Festival (AMF) - an international music festival that brings together experimental musicians from Asia since 2005, and is a member of the Shared Campus Global Pop Cultures Group and Telematics Summer School led by Zurich University of the Arts. He is also a part-time lecturer at Kyoto Seika and Tokyo University of the Arts GA graduate program.
In 2023, Takuro has performed and presented commissioned work at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-Lab), and serves as the music programmer for Taipei Biennial 2023.