In memory of VALIE EXPORT (1940–2026)

“Suspending herself, making vulnerability visible, revealing herself, exhibiting corporeality, exposing herself, enduring heteronomy, the feminist side of Actionism has a name: VALIE EXPORT.”

(from: “Staging EXPORT”, 2010, Carola Hilmes and Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger).

The birthing washing machine [Die Geburtenmadonna], Aus der Mappe der Hundigkeit, Hyperbulie, the garter tattooed on the thigh [Body Sign Action], Aktionshose: Genitalpanik, TAPP und TASTKINO, Ping Pong. Ein Film zum Spielen - ein Spielfilm, Metanoia, Remote… Remote...
There are artists who have gone down in history with a single or just a few iconic pieces of art. VALIE EXPORT created such masterpieces as if on an assembly line. For more than six decades she intervened in the established norms of the body and gender, which the hegemons tried in vain to stipulate, with unique aesthetic and political power. Always on the cutting edge in terms of the techniques used for her art too. In the years of Viennese Actionism she had a congenial partner in this in Peter Weibel.

When we were able to persuade her to come and work as professor of multimedia and performance at the still young Academy of Media Arts Cologne in the mid 1990s, she was at the peak of her professional career. Berlin University of the Arts, which was at the time the biggest art school in Europe, let her go with a heavy heart. But VALIE EXPORT once again chose the challenge, the experimental adventure as well as a focus on the exciting interplay of arts and media.

With all of her worldwide exhibitions and projects she travelled a lot. We saw her less than other colleagues. However, her aura as an internationally celebrated artist was still present even when she wasn’t physically there. She always exuded an effortless positive authority. She motivated the young women and men who studied with her to special efforts. Especially as they knew how critical VALIE EXPORT could be in the discussion of artistic work and processes.

From the 1990s, this exceptional artist was awarded prizes en masse, including by the Austrian state. But she was not always bestowed with such esteem. As I left the University of Salzburg in 1993 to teach and research at the newly founded KHM, I suggested VALIE EXPORT as my successor. The men of the faculty were beside themselves with indignation (“over my dead body!”) and nipped the plan in the bud. It was a special honour for me to welcome her as a colleague in Cologne a few years later.
We were in touch with each other one last time a few days before her death. For me and many others, VALIE EXPORT represented a completely irreplaceable microcosm of radical and committed media art. I hope that her spirit continues to be felt through the corridors and workshops of the first academy of media arts for many years to come.

Siegfried Zielinski