Taro Yasuno

Taro Yasuno is a composer based in Aichi, Japan who builds self-operating musical instruments to rethink the conditions of music. His work does not aim to extend human expression through technology; instead, it stages situations in which humans and machines are reconfigured, often reversing their expected roles.
In his ongoing project Zombie Music, performers are required to physically operate large bellows that supply air to mechanically controlled recorders. While the system appears automated, it depends on continuous human labor. The instruments produce unstable, non-standard sounds that resist precise control, undermining the assumed link between notation, pitch, and performance.
Yasuno’s practice treats composition as the design of procedures more than sounds, exposing how musical systems are constructed and maintained. His work has been presented internationally, including at the Venice Biennale.