Valie Export
Time and countertime
The art of VALIE EXPORT (Linz, 1940) is devoted to radical social and political critique, addressing major contemporary issues such as violence, wounds, the female image, and how women adapt to and are shaped by physical and social contexts.
Born Waltraud Höllinger (Linz, 1940), in 1967 the artist took on a new identity inspired by the famous Austrian brand of cigarettes Smart Export. Her wide-ranging artistic career spans more than four decades. Always aesthetically innovative and urgently topical, VALIE EXPORT’s work includes performances, actions, photography, film, expanded cinema, sculptures, texts and installations.
Early works with a powerful feminist stance – which were both greatly lauded and harshly criticised – like the provocative performances Tapp und Tastkino (Tap and Touch Cinema) and Aktionshose: Genitalpanik (Action Pants: Genital Panic) are now genuine icons of art history. The Museion exhibition focused on the works created in the last 20 years, and also included some of her lesser known pieces.
The show was not bound to a chronological order: with a perspective of “countertime” the works presented lead to connections to previous projects, in formal terms or because they represented a conceptual continuation, offering new insight into VALIE EXPORT’s entire oeuvre.
An exhibition of the Belvedere, Vienna and the Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz. The presentation in Bolzano was curated by VALIE EXPORT and Letizia Ragaglia.
Publications
VALIE EXPORT Zeit und Gegenzeit – Time and Countertime, 2010/2011.
Valie Export
Time and countertime
ExhibitionCurator: Angelika Nollert
