VALIE EXPORT HERSTORY!

With her exhibition at the Museum of the Celts Hallein, VALIE EXPORT takes a distinctive look at her own work. Specifically, in the context of an archaeological museum and in the extraordinary ambience of the 18th century baroque princely rooms, the artist focuses on historical works from her own oeuvre. Almost 50 years after their creation, the works selected for Hallein convey EXPORT's appropriation of art historical narratives and icons of art history. In the 1970s, the artist developed feminist counter-concepts to the patriarchal and male-dominated content and programmes of European art history by means of re-enactments, stagings and collages. The works, which made a significant contribution to the deconstruction of traditional images of women in society, are now regarded as key works of international modernism. The exhibition at the Museum of the Celts shows a selection of works precisely tailored to the historical premises in Hallein. At the same time, by being located in Austria's largest museum for the Iron Age, the overall project also draws a special link to the legendary exhibition curated by EXPORT itself, ‘MAGNA. Feminism: Art and Creativity’ at the Galerie nächst St. Stephan in 1975. In the accompanying publication of this exhibition in Vienna, Carolee Schneemann impressively criticised the fact that our preoccupation with archaeology, among other things, was linked to the idea of a purely male authorship of early artistic achievements. The idea of a change of perspective – expressed in the title ‘herstory’ and underlying in VALIE EXPORT's work – is given significant visibility in this exhibition.