Valie Export’s Photography: Blurring the Line Between Artist and Subject
As part of the In Transition program of FOTO ARSENAL WIEN prior to its opening in March 2025 Valie Export gave deep insights in her way of working and presented us various negatives and prints from her vast archive during a talk with Artistic Director Felix Hoffmann.
Valie Export and Felix Hoffmann talking about her use of photography for her art
Valie Export: The Artist Who Used Photography as a Tool for Performance and Exploration
Valie Export, an Austrian conceptual artist, redefined the way we view photography through her revolutionary approach to performance art. With a sharp focus on gender, identity, and the social constraints placed upon women, she used photography not just as a medium for capturing images, but as a tool for exploring and questioning societal norms. She engaged deeply with the act of photographing, often blurring the lines between subject, photographer, and viewer.
1. Photography as Performance:
In Export’s art, photography and performance were inseparable. Much of her work involved capturing moments that were not staged, but actively performed - but deliberately planned upfront. One of her most iconic pieces, Action Pants: Genital Panic (1969), was both a performance and a photograph. Valie Export staged a public performance in which she walked around Vienna wearing a pair of skin-tight pants, exposing her naked genitals. The act was photographed, but the photography was never just about documenting the performance; it was about the act of being photographed itself, challenging the viewer's gaze. Export often performed these actions in public spaces, forcing an engagement that was both voyeuristic and confrontational.
2. Her Tools of the Trade:
Valie Export learned photography through self-study and hands-on experimentation, often focussing more on the conceptual aspects of her art rather than technical perfection. In her office she was showing us two of the cameras she used back then: A Yashica TL Electro X (one of the first with an fully electronic shutter) and a medium format 6x6 Hasselblad. Both cameras can be operated handheld (although the Yashica is quite heavy for an SLR) which made the process more intimate and personal, allowing her to engage directly with her subjects and the environment.
Some of Valie Exports cameras - In Transition Foto Arsenal Wien
Her choice of cameras also reflected her philosophy of art: her focus was on the performance and the previously defined concept, not the technical aspects of the medium.
3. Photography as Self-Expression:
While many of her works involved staged performances, Export’s relationship with photography wasn’t always hands-on in terms of operating the camera. Since she was doing quite some selfportraits, she collaborated with photographers, leaving the technical execution to others while she focused on the performative aspects. The second person merely presses the shutter though - all aspects of framing, exposure time etc were defined by Valie Export previously. This highlights an interesting point: Export wasn’t concerned with being the one who pressed the button. What mattered to her was the concept, the message behind the photograph, and full control over the process.
Her Body Configurations series (1972) is a prime example of how she used photography to express her complex relationship with identity. In these works, Export’s body was contorted and arranged in ways that both mimicked and rejected traditional representations of women. The photos, though technically taken by someone else, were orchestrated by Export in a way that allowed her to control the narrative. She knew that by staging her body in such an abstract way, she could push back against the stereotypical ways women were portrayed in media and art.
Valie Export carefully stores her negatives archival conditions to preserve her artistic process and historical documentation. Together with her notes and even drawings on how she wanted to later take the photographs gave a deep insight in her thought process.
Valie Export’s use of photography was not just about creating images—it was about using the camera as an extension of her body, thoughts, and resistance. Whether she was performing for the camera, collaborating with photographers, or orchestrating the entire visual narrative, Export used photography to challenge the conventional understanding of the medium. She didn’t just create art; she created a dialogue between the camera, the subject, and the viewer. Through her use of performance, she elevated photography into a form of expression that demanded attention and reflection.