Vienna obituary · The Art Newspaper
Valie Export, feminist performance pioneer, dies at 85
Austrian performance artist Valie Export, renowned for confrontational works centring the female body, died in Vienna on 14 May. Her practice challenged audiences to engage with female embodiment on her own terms.
Valie Export established herself as a foundational figure in feminist performance art through works that deliberately provoked and unsettled audiences. Her practice prioritised the agency and autonomy of the female body, refusing conventional representations and demanding direct confrontation from viewers. Export's radical approach influenced generations of performance artists and secured her position as a critical voice in twentieth-century art history. Her death marks the loss of an uncompromising artistic voice that redefined the boundaries of what performance art could achieve.
Read at source →