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candle obituary calendar_today Tuesday, May 19, 2026

‘Her crotchless trousers are etched in my brain for ever’: Valie Export remembered by the artists she influenced

Valie Export, the pioneering Austrian feminist artist known for provocative performances like *Tapp-und-Tastkino* (1968) and *Genital Panic* (1969), is remembered by four artists she influenced: Peaches, Florentina Holzinger, Joan Jonas, and Candice Breitz. Each shares personal reflections on Export's radical use of the female body as a political weapon, her confrontational public interventions, and her legacy of civil disobedience against patriarchal structures.

This tribute matters because Export's work remains urgently relevant in an era of algorithmic thirst traps, free internet porn, and political backlash against bodily autonomy. The artists underscore how her fearless subversion of nudity and public space continues to inspire new generations, making her a foundational figure in feminist performance art whose influence endures in contemporary music, choreography, and visual art.