Tribute to VALIE EXPORT

VALIE EXPORT is one of the most important pioneers of conceptual media art, performance and film.

EXPORT’s artistic work comprises: video environments, digital photography, installations, body performances, feature films, experimental films, documentaries, Expanded Cinema, conceptual photography, body-material interactions, Persona Performances, laser installations, objects, sculptures, and texts on contemporary art history and feminism.

In the 1960s and 1970s the artist was involved in the movement of the Vienna Actionists. During this period her works were radical, aggressive, and often deliberately shocking in form. In 1967 Waltraud Höllinger (née Lehner) abandoned the male-dominated art circles and gave up her surname to adopt a pseudonym derived from a cigarette brand popular in Austria – Smart Export. In protest against the patriarchal hierarchy, she transformed her own identity into a brand – VALIE EXPORT – choosing the issue of the presence of the female body in public space as the central subject of her work.

VALIE EXPORT took part in Documenta 6 (1997) and Documenta 12 (2007) in Kassel. In 1985 her feature film Die Praxis der Liebe (screenplay and direction) was nominated for the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Since 1975 she organized and participated in curatorial projects, international symposia, exhibitions and film programmes.

Andrzej Mroczek organized the first presentation of VALIE EXPORT’s work in Poland at Galeria Labirynt in 1977. Her lecture was translated by Małgorzata Sady. It marked the beginning of their friendship, which lasted until the end.

VALIE EXPORT passed away in May 2026. The tribute paid to her by the festival participants will draw on Körperkonfigurationen (Body Configurations, 1972–1976)—a famous series of photographs in which she interacted with the geometric forms of buildings, staircases, and façades. Through contortions (unnatural bends and poses), her body became a “living geometry” that resisted or conformed to the rigid, phallic structures of the patriarchal city.

Tribute to VALIE EXPORT

Performative action in urban space
Concept and guidance: VESTANDPAGE (Verena Stenke & Andrea Pagnes)

The tribute to VALIE EXPORT draws inspiration from her iconic photographic series Körperkonfigurationen (Body Configurations, 1972–1976), in which the artist placed her body in dialogue with the geometry of the urban environment—stairs, walls, facades, and architectural structures. Through contorted, unconventional postures, her body became a “living geometry,” at times resisting and at times adapting to the rigid, patriarchal forms of the city.

During the festival, participants of the workshops, together with other volunteers, will recreate and reinterpret selected body configurations in the public space under the guidance of VESTANDPAGE (Verena Stenke & Andrea Pagnes). After being introduced to VALIE EXPORT’s work and photographic documentation, they will respond to the surrounding architecture with their own bodies, creating a series of temporary living sculptures and performative images.

Rather than reenacting the original works, the action proposes a contemporary dialogue with VALIE EXPORT’s artistic legacy, inviting participants and passers-by to reflect on the relationship between the body, architecture, memory, and public space.