The three tune musical automaton bird cage clock by Bautte & Moynier (Geneva, 1825-30) (courtesy Sotheby’s) (click to enlarge) The birdcage clock was a relatively late addition to the automata created ...

Performances in N.Y.C. Critic’s Notebook Now we fret about chatbots. An earlier age worried about automatons, the uncanny humanoid contraptions whose voices could trigger love or mania. Sometimes a ...