Artists including Peaches, Florentina Holzinger, Joan Jonas, and Candice Breitz have paid tribute to Valie Export, the fearless feminist performance artist who died last week. Her work, known for its radical use of the female body and confrontation with patriarchal structures, left an indelible mark on contemporary art.
Peaches: 'Her crotchless trousers are etched in my brain for ever'
Canadian musician and producer Peaches recalls first encountering Export's iconic poster: 'I still remember the first time I came across that poster of Valie Export wearing crotchless trousers, her legs spread apart, a gun in her hand. It was a fearless image that took my breath away and is etched in my brain for ever.' Peaches notes that Export's Tapp-und-Tastkino (Tap and Touch Cinema) performance, where she strapped a miniature theatre to her bare chest and invited passersby to reach through a tiny curtain, 'felt as important as Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece.'
Florentina Holzinger: 'The female body is not a polite object'
Austrian choreographer and theatre director Florentina Holzinger first wrote about Export in high school. She reflects on Genital Panic (1969), where Export walked through a Munich cinema in crotchless jeans, forcing her exposed genitalia to eye-level with the audience. Holzinger argues that today, amid 'algorithmic thirst traps' and political backlash, 'the core political necessity to subvert how we handle nudity and real bodies endures. Thank you, Valie, for paving the way and for articulating this reality with such crystal clarity: the female body is not a polite object.'
Joan Jonas: 'Passionate, brave and certainly generous'
American artist Joan Jonas describes Export as 'bold, radical, innovative, passionate, brave and certainly generous.' She highlights works like Grope and Touch (1968), Genital Panic (1969), and Encirclement (1976). Jonas quotes Export's own words about Homo Meter II (1976): 'When I went out on the street with the loaf of bread tied around me and offered it as a gift people were disturbed, perturbed and curious. They did not dare to cut off a piece with a knife.'
Candice Breitz: 'She made a virtue of civil disobedience'
South African artist Candice Breitz praises Export's 'fierce attitude and badass flair,' noting that she 'made a virtue of civil disobedience, consistently claiming space that had for far too long been dominated by men.' Breitz recalls Export's 1968 intervention where she 'quite literally put patriarchy on a leash, dragging the legendary curator Peter Weibel through the streets of Vienna on all fours.'
Shoair Mavlian: 'She understood the tools of mainstream media'
Shoair Mavlian, director of The Photographers' Gallery in London, emphasizes the central role of photography in Export's practice. In her Body Configurations series, Export contorted her body in urban spaces to critique architecture. Mavlian notes: 'She understood the power of engaging with the tools of mainstream media and became one of the first female artists to critically examine representations of women in mass media using photography and film.'
