VALIE EXPORT and the body as a language of resistance An interview with the artist

By Bartolomeo Pietromarchi

I met Valie Export (Linz, 1940) on the occasion of the exhibition "Valie Export & Ketty La Rocca. Body Sign," open until February 28th by Thaddaeus Ropac, a project curated by Andrea Maurer and Alberto Salvadori that brings together two artists who, despite both working since the mid-1960s and addressing common needs, have never met. Yet, comparing their works reveals a surprising and precise correspondence: two researches born in different contexts, Vienna and Florence, but united by the need to rethink the body as a locus of language, power, and resistance that crosses feminism, media, and identity and that still feels relevant and necessary today.

After all these years of struggle, with your work, with feminism, with the art system, how do you feel today and where are we at?

I'm fine today. But I have to say that, despite everything that's changed, for me it's still a struggle. I'm not just fighting for myself or my art: I continue to fight for a true, authentic representation of women. Working women, women at home, young, old. There are many images of women, and all of them must be seen, recognized, accepted.

So you feel this battle isn't over at all.
No, it isn't. Something has certainly changed, especially in the European and Western context. There's greater awareness: there's talk of wage inequality, rights, recognition. The gap still exists, but today it's visible, and it's a political responsibility to address it. This, in itself, is already progress.

[Translated from Italian]