Valie Export and the museum and festival tributes in 2026
Published on 08/20/2026 at 10:24 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Valie Export has long been regarded as a pivotal figure of feminist performance and media art, with works that continue to be reactivated in public space and institutional collections. In 2026, tributes in Bregenz and Krakow underline how her experiments with the body and media still shape debates on viewing, power and care.
Tribute projections in Bregenz
Kunsthaus Bregenz is dedicating an evening projection series titled A Nighttime Tribute to VALIE EXPORT, presenting her 1970s series Körperkonfigurationen on a large screen at Karl-Tizian-Platz in the city center during the summer season. The institution notes that the projections run daily from 9:00 PM to midnight and frame her body-based interventions in relation to the surrounding urban architecture.
The Kunsthaus emphasizes how these historic photographs and films, in which Export positions her body in relation to concrete stairways, façades and street furniture, resonate with contemporary discussions on public space and gendered visibility. Presented alongside guided tours tied to the Bregenz festival season, the program reinforces the museum's long-term engagement with avant-garde media practices.
Museum presence in Krakow and beyond
In Krakow, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art highlights Valie Export under the rubric Challenging Experiments on Self and Others, a permanent display drawn from the MOCAK collection that underscores her pioneering role in interrogating the body as both subject and medium. The museum's presentation situates her works within a broader narrative of conceptual and socially engaged art after 1960.
MOCAK's framing connects Export's performances and photographs to questions of self-determination, representation and institutional critique, themes that have become foundational in contemporary art discourse. Visitors encounter her works alongside other positions that challenge the spectator's role, underscoring how Export's experiments anticipated later debates on media conditioning and identity politics.
All news and background on Valie Export
For further context on Valie Export's performances, film works and institutional presentations, the AD HOC NEWS archive offers additional reports and analyses.
The core of Export's practice
Valie Export's work is rooted in performance, film and photography, often using her own body as a testing ground to expose the violence and constraints embedded in everyday gestures and media images. Series such as Körperkonfigurationen and the television intervention Facing a Family foreground spectatorship itself as a critical arena.
Where the artist stands now
Valie Export's works remain active in institutional programs and public projections, while her historical significance within feminist and media art discourse continues to be consolidated through museum displays and curated film series.
Key facts on Valie Export
- Artist: Valie Export
- Medium / Genre: Performance, film, photography and conceptual media art
- Born: 1940, Linz, Austria
- Place(s) of practice: Vienna
- Active since: Late 1960s as a performance and media artist
- Key work groups: Körperkonfigurationen, Facing a Family, Tapp und Tastkino, Adjunct Dislocations
- Current/last exhibition: Challenging Experiments on Self and Others, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, ongoing display of MOCAK Collection works
- Major collections: MoMA (New York), Tate (London), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Albertina (Vienna), MOCAK (Krakow)
- Awards: Numerous honors including major art and film prizes documented across European institutions
- Next date: currently no announced date in the 30-day window
Frequently asked questions about Valie Export
Where can I see works by Valie Export in Europe?
Works by Valie Export are held in major public collections, including MoMA in New York, Tate in London, Centre Pompidou in Paris and several Austrian and Central European institutions, ensuring regular visibility in rotating displays.
What defines Valie Export's contribution to performance art?
Export's performances and media interventions systematically addressed the female body under patriarchal control, using direct audience confrontation and media critique to lay groundwork for later generations of feminist and conceptual artists.
How do recent museum presentations frame Valie Export's legacy?
Institutions such as Kunsthaus Bregenz and MOCAK in Krakow emphasize her ongoing relevance by embedding her works in broader thematic programs on self-determination, care and the politics of viewing, rather than treating them as historical curiosities.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
