Quiet Motors is a concert-performance combining the sound of a pocket trumpet with a set of musical automatons built from Mecanno parts and gears activated by small motors that are able to trigger movements and percussions.

The resulting colourful mechanical orchestra plays, randomly, short sweet and hypnotical pieces. The alternate and desynchronized movements make the resultant compositions unique and unpredictable, challenging the audience's senses. The seemingly simple appearance of this delightful machinery hides an intricacy revealed in the shadow games, images and projections capable of transporting the viewer to other dimension.

The audience becomes an explorer – listening and perceiving – as if part of the composition.

Imperfect, peculiar and exceptional symphony.

Born in Paris in 1953, Pierre Bastien has been building his career and his musical machinery for more than 40 years. His creativity is developed through literature, he studied French literature at Sorbonne and he feeds on surrealism and on the literature of André Breton and Raymond Roussel, on Francis Picabia's poems and on Henri Michaux's imagined countries. He his internationally renowned and his partnerships' portfolio is as colourful as his music, including musicians Pascal Comelade, Robert Wyatt, Mats Gustafsson, Jac Berrocal, DJ Low, Jaki Liebezeit (Can), Aphex Twin, video artist Pierrick Sorin, stylist Issey Miyake among others.