Sounds of Eurasia – Constructing a network through Beuys records is an international collaborative project that aims to visualize and listen to the process of building an artist network across Asia. This project is led by dj sniff (Takuro Mizuta Lippit) who currently resides in Tokyo, Japan.

Three 8-inch vinyl letters that were made for this project (photo by Dieb13)

The primary initiator of contact between artists are three vinyl records with voice messages from artists living in Southeast Asia. These records each titled: Hare, Staff, and Coyote are sent to artists living in regions between Europe and Asia via post. Once the record arrives, artists take part in an interview and provide audio / visual material that relates to their practice and surrounding environment before being asked to pass the record to the next artist. The journey of these records are documented on each disc’s page.

Another important aspect of this project is the creative re-interpretations of vinyl records related to Joseph Beuys. Over the last six months, dj sniff has collected all releases of Joseph Beuys’s performances that has been documented on vinyl. Beuys Records Sound Notes is a podcast series that reviews these records based on their sound characteristics and relationship to the medium.

The vinyl letters are sent by post (photo by Yusuke Hokazono)

Additionally, Playing Beuys’s Record is a 2-day performance staged at the Goethe Institut Tokyo in September 2021. The participating artists will listen to Beuys’s vinyl records together and discuss on how to create a set of instructions based their impressions. A performance made from these instructions will be performed and documented. This video, bundled together with the instructions and the actual records by Beuys, will become a blueprint for future collaborations between the musicians and sound artists participating in Sounds of Eurasia. The vinyl records by Beuys that were collected by dj sniff will be donated to the Goethe Institut Tokyo Library for free access to public while they are not in circulation.

Joseph Beuys’s vinyl records that were collected for this project (photo by dj sniff)

Vinyl letter that traveled through Vienna, Tbilisi, Seoul, and Tokyo

Listen to dj sniff’s audio introduction to Sounds of Eurasia recorded in his neighborhood in Tokyo.