Valie Export (1940–2026), the Austrian avant-garde artist known for radical feminist body art and video, has died at age 85. Born Waltraud Lehner in Linz, she studied design in Vienna before adopting her iconic pseudonym from a Canadian cigarette brand in 1967. Export rose to prominence with her 1969 performance *Genitalpanik*, which critiqued the male gaze and women's societal roles. She became a key figure in body art alongside the Vienna Actionists, later expanding into film and photography. Her first feature *Unsichtbare Gegner* (1976) screened at the Berlinale, and she won the Golden Bear in 1985 for *Die Praxis der Liebe*. She taught in Cologne from 1995 and participated in Documenta 6.
Export's death marks the loss of a pioneering feminist artist who used her body as a weapon against patriarchal structures. Her work—from *Genitalpanik* to the *Körperkonfiguration* series—challenged the rigid, misogynistic post-war Viennese establishment and influenced generations of artists exploring gender, identity, and urban alienation. As a female counterpart to the male-dominated Vienna Actionists, she carved a distinct path that merged performance, video, and political critique, leaving a lasting legacy in both feminist art and media art history.