Renowned feminist artist and film-maker Valie Export dies aged 85
Summary
Valie Export, an Austrian feminist artist and filmmaker known for challenging traditional views on the female body, died at age 85 in Vienna. She gained attention in the 1960s and 1970s for performances that highlighted gender and power issues and has influenced many artists worldwide.Key Facts
- Valie Export was born Waltraud Lehner in 1940 in Linz, Austria.
- She adopted the name Valie Export in 1967, combining a childhood nickname and a cigarette brand name.
- Export created bold performance art that questioned how women’s bodies were viewed, such as her 1968 work where she invited people to touch her bare breasts through a curtain in public.
- In 1980, she showed a controversial piece at the Venice Biennale featuring a large female abdomen with neon lights and a TV showing a Catholic mass.
- She co-founded the Austrian Filmmakers Cooperative in 1968 and had films nominated at major festivals like Berlin.
- Export taught multimedia and performance art in Cologne from 1995 to 2005.
- A center dedicated to her work opened in Linz in 2015 in a former tobacco factory.
- Her art has been revisited by contemporary artists like Marina Abramović, highlighting its lasting impact.
Read the Full Article
This is a fact-based summary from The Actual News. Click below to read the complete story directly from the original source.