Valie Export, the Austrian avant-garde artist known for her radical feminist performances, films, and sculptures, has died at age 85. Her gallery, Thaddaeus Ropac, announced her death, noting her groundbreaking work in the 1960s and 1970s introduced a new form of embodied feminism to Europe. Export, born Waltraud Lehner in Linz, Austria, changed her name in 1967 and became known for provocative works such as "Aktionshose: Genitalpanik" (1969) and "Tap and Touch Cinema" (1968–1971), which challenged voyeurism and the sexualization of women's bodies. She also co-founded the Austrian Filmmakers Cooperative in 1968 and was commissioned by the Austrian Broadcast Corporation for her film "Facing the Family" (1971).
Export's death marks the loss of a pioneering figure who expanded the boundaries of performance art and feminist practice, influencing generations of artists. Her use of her own body as a medium placed her alongside icons like Joseph Beuys and Allan Kaprow, and her work remains a touchstone for discussions about gender, spectatorship, and the politics of the body in art. The opening of a media research center devoted to her in Linz in 2016 underscores her lasting impact on both Austrian culture and the global art world.