Valie Export Obituary, Austrian Death: Beloved Actress Has Died Before Her 86th Birthday
Valie Export, the groundbreaking Austrian performance artist and filmmaker known for radically challenging the male gaze through provocative and confrontational works, has died at the age of 85.
Her death was announced by her foundation on Thursday evening, which confirmed that she passed away earlier that day in Vienna, just days before what would have been her 86th birthday.
Valie Export became internationally recognized during the late 1960s for experimental, low-budget performances that shocked audiences in Austria and Germany while confronting issues surrounding gender, sexuality, and the objectification of women. Though controversial at the time, her work later came to be regarded as deeply influential within feminist and performance art movements.
Among her most famous and debated works was the 1968 performance Tapp und Tastkino (“Tap and Touch Cinema”). In the piece, Export wore a box resembling a miniature movie theater over her bare chest and invited people on the streets of Vienna to place their hands inside and touch her breasts through a small curtain opening. The performance directly challenged traditional cinematic spectatorship and the passive consumption of the female body in visual culture.
During the action, artist Peter Weibel accompanied her, using a megaphone to engage passersby and timing each interaction with a stopwatch. The piece became one of the defining images of radical feminist art of the era, confronting audiences with questions about consent, voyeurism, and public interaction with the female body.
Throughout her career, Valie Export continued pushing artistic and political boundaries through film, photography, installation, and conceptual art. Her work often explored identity, technology, violence, and gender roles, earning her international recognition and exhibitions in major museums and cultural institutions worldwide.
Though her performances initially scandalized conservative audiences, she later became celebrated as one of the most influential feminist artists of the 20th century, inspiring generations of contemporary artists and filmmakers.
Her death marks the end of a remarkable artistic legacy that transformed feminist performance art and redefined conversations around representation, power, and the body in modern art.