Conversation with Venus

Performance by Lily Hibberd with Dr Alice Le Gall

OpenFactory #9, Centquatre-Paris 10 January 2026

Conceived and written by Lily Hibberd, in this performance Venus takes centre stage in a live dialogue with the planetologist and Venus expert Dr Alice Le Gall from Sorbonne Université, Paris. Given the power to converse, Venus confronts Dr Le Gall with 5.6 millions years of pent-up questions. Venus is not impressed, for one, that it has been overlooked as a subject of science, especially in comparison to its overrated relative, Mars. As the conversation unravels, we discover many surprising dimensions of Venus and the emergence of important new knowledge about our twin planet. Most of all, we realise that Venus may have a life and ideas of its own.

VENUS: "Dr Alice, you know very well that I enjoy being complicated. I rotate very slowly, in the opposite direction from all the other planets in the Solar System, but my atmosphere turns around the other way again. So, Dr. Alice, brilliant human that you are, how do you study a planet as capricious as me?"

Conversation with Venus, 2026. Photo: Annick Bureaud.

Conceived and written by Lily Hibberd, 2026. Performed by Dr Alice Le Gall and Lily Hibberd, moderated by Annick Bureaud. Produced by Venus Conversations 2024–2034 for OpenFactory#9 at the Centquatre-Paris, 2026.

Conversation with Venus, 2026. Photo: Annick Bureaud.

Venus Conversations 2024–2034

 Launched at the Science Museum in November 2024, Venus Conversations is a series of dialogues and art projects launching from the planet Venus to explore cultural, scientific and artistic forcefields. This decade-long project is engaging creative and scientific communities to reimagine our relationship with this overlooked planet, organised in collaboration with French art critic and independent curator Annick Bureaud, Austrian art-science curator and scholar Claudia Schnugg, and French art-science curator and producer Natacha Duviquet (Studio Décalé). Visit the webpage for details for details of events and productions.