Valie Export, Austrian artist, dies

Valie Export, the Austrian artist whose confrontational performances and films made her one of Europe’s best-known feminist avant-garde figures, died in Vienna on May 14 at 85. Her official website said, “We mourn the loss of the outstanding artist VALIE EXPORT,” and the Valie Export Center Linz said she died in Vienna on that date. The artist, born Waltraud Lehner in Linz in 1940, built an international reputation from the late 1960s onward with works that used her own body to challenge the treatment of women in art, film and public life. Obituaries by The New York Times, The Art Newspaper, Artnet, Frieze and Hyperallergic all described her as a pioneer of feminist performance, film and media art. (valieexport.at) ### Why was Valie Export such a defining figure in postwar art? Valie Export emerged in Austria’s postwar avant-garde with work that turned spectatorship itself into the subject. The Art Newspaper said she was “best known for daring audiences to face and feel the female body on her own terms,” while Frieze described her as a pioneer in performance, film and video art with an explicitly feminist lens. (nytimes.com) In 1967, she adopted the name VALIE EXPORT, replacing her birth name with a self-fashioned artistic identity. The Valie Export Center Linz said the name change marked a break from “imposed orders,” and multiple obituaries noted that the surname referred to an Austrian cigarette brand, which she repurposed as part of her public persona. (theartnewspaper.com) ### Which works made her most famous? “Tap and Touch Cinema” from 1968 became one of Export’s most cited works. In that performance, she wore a curtained box over her chest and invited passersby to touch her body through it, collapsing the distance between cinema, voyeurism and physical encounter, according to The New York Times and The Art Newspaper. (kunstuni-linz.at) “Genital Panic,” first staged in 1969, became another defining image. Artnet, ARTnews and Hyperallergic all pointed to the work — in which Export appeared in crotchless pants while confronting an audience — as emblematic of her challenge to male-dominated visual culture. ### How did film fit into her work? Export worked across film as well as live action and photography. (nytimes.com) The Valie Export Center Linz described her as an artist and filmmaker, and Frieze said her practice spanned performance, film and video art. The New York Times said her films and performances forced viewers to confront misogyny in media and society at large. (news.artnet.com) That approach made her important not only in gallery-based performance but also in debates about how women were represented on screen. ### Who confirmed her death? The official Valie Export website carried a memorial notice listing her dates as 1940–2026. (kunstuni-linz.at) The Valie Export Center Linz, part of the University of Arts Linz, said in German that “the artist and filmmaker died on 14 May 2026 in Vienna.” Thaddaeus Ropac, which represented Export, republished The New York Times obituary on May 21. (nytimes.com) MutualArt also included her death in a May 21 roundup, and Reuters, cited in syndication, reported on May 15 that she had died in Vienna at 85. ### What is available now for readers who want to go deeper? As of May 23, readers could find current obituaries and tributes through the official Valie Export website, the Valie Export Center Linz, Thaddaeus Ropac and major art publications including The Art Newspaper, Artnet, Frieze, ARTnews and Hyperallergic. (valieexport.at) Those accounts cover her death, her biography and the works most often cited in assessments of her legacy. (ropac.net)