17 May 1940 (born Waltraud Lehner, later Waltraud Höllinger), is an Austrian media artist, performance artist, filmmaker, and pioneering figure in feminist and avant-garde art. She abandoned her birth and married names in 1967, adopting the name VALIE EXPORT as an artistic identity and brand. Her work spans expanded cinema, performance, video installations, photography, sculpture, computer animation, and conceptual art, often using her own body to confront gender norms, media representation, and power structures in society.

After studying applied arts and textile design in Linz and Vienna, she entered the avant-garde art world in Vienna in the 1960s, influenced by Austrian actionism but developing a distinct feminist practice. Early performances such as Tapp-und-Tast-Kino (Tap and Touch Cinema) and Aktionshose: Genitalpanik (Action Pants: Genital Panic) used direct engagement with audiences to challenge the passive spectatorial role traditionally assigned to women and the objectification of the female body.

Her film and expanded cinema work in the 1970s and 1980s, including Invisible Adversaries (1976) and Syntagma(1983), further explored the politics of the body, identity, and representation. She has exhibited widely in international museums and biennales and taught at institutions including the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, the Universität der Künste Berlin, and the Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln.

Her archives were acquired by the city of Linz, leading to the establishment of the VALIE EXPORT Center Linz, a research institution devoted to her work. She has received numerous honours, including national cultural awards in Austria and international recognition throughout her long career.

Reference:
Biography text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), German edition. Retrieved January 19, 2026.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valie_Export