Valie Export Enter a
feeling, not
a gallery.
Choose a mood and the room itself answers — the light cools or warms, the air changes pace, and only the works that carry that feeling step forward from the dark. Everything else recedes into shadow.
Valie Export
A Life Dedicated to Disruption: The Art of Valie Export Born Waltraud Lehner in 1940 in the Austrian city of Linz, Valie Export emerged as a pivotal figure in the landscape of postwar art—a landscape she would relentlessly challenge and redefine. Her very name, adopted in 1967, is a declaration of artistic intent: a shedding of familial ties (both paternal and marital) and an embrace of self-invention. The moniker “Valie Export,” boldl
y capitalized, wasn’t merely a change; it was an act of exporting identity, a deliberate construction meant to dismantle conventional expectations surrounding women in art and society. This foundational gesture speaks volumes about the core tenets of her practice: autonomy, provocation, and a fierce commitment to dismantling patriarchal structures. Early influences included a somewhat restrictive convent education followed by studies a…
