Liquid Reflections - in conversation with Liliane Lijn
30 September 2025, 7 pm, The Minories
Join us for an evening with trail-blazing contemporary artist, Liliane Lijn, whose seminal kinetic artworks redefined the possibilities of creative and artistic expression. From her motorised Poem Machines of the early 1960s that infused language with additional meaning through movement, to her iconic spinning Koans and mesmerising masterwork, Liquid Reflections, Lijn merged industrial materials, movement, myth, and poetry in ways that were decades ahead of their time.
Currently the subject of a major retrospective at Tate St Ives—Liliane Lijn: Arise Alive—Lijn will be at The Minories to discuss her acclaimed new memoir, Liquid Reflections, with author Tony White. Based on her diaries from 1958 to 1966, the book charts her formative years in bohemian Paris and Athens, her fearless experiments with new materials, and her navigation of love, motherhood, and an art world deeply resistant to women. Critics have hailed it as “utterly gripping, enraging, entertaining—and important” (Jennifer Higgie) and a portrait of “a unique and self-renewing force of creativity for six decades” (Marina Warner).
Don’t miss this chance to hear, in her own words, the story of an artist who refused to be categorised.
(Doors will open at 6:30 pm. The one-hour talk will commence at 7 pm and there will be a book signing afterwards.)
More about Liliane Lijn
From text based kinetic sculptures to large animated installations, inspired by science, mythology, and eastern philosophies, Lijn combines industrial materials with artistic processes to reimagine the female body. Her work is held in important public collections, including Tate, Victoria & Albert, British Museum, and FNAC in Paris. She has been exhibited internationally since the 1960s, most recently in the major retrospective Liliane Lijn: Arise Alive at the Haus der Kunst, Munich, touring to mumok, Vienna and Tate St. Ives. Born in New York, Lijn subsequently lived in Lugano, Paris, New York and Athens before finally settling in London in 1967.
About Tony White
Tony White is the author of novels including Foxy-T and The Fountain in the Forest. A former writer in residence at the Science Museum, he founded the artists' book series Piece of Paper Press in 1994 which continues to this day. Tony White is an RLF Fellow at Royal Holloway University of London, and is a lecturer in creative writing at Birkbeck University of London and the University of Essex.
Photo Credit: Chris Dorley-Brown