VALIE EXPORT: Ob/De+Con(Struction) (Moore international discovery series)

Catalog of The Galleries at Moore exhibition Following the Second World War, art as contemplative object seemed irrelevant; the focus changed to a more process- and performance-based activity. The Holocaust, the atom bomb, and the burden of guilt associated with these horrors, sparked a monumental shift in consciousness. During the next fifty years artists in the United States, Europe, and Asia embraced almost every medium and every form.

In the early sixties artists began to use their bodies as an extended medium, creating actions and performances that shocked the public into confronting the realities of sex, power, and social politics. VALIE EXPORT was a leader in this genre. She was born Waltraud Lehner, in Linz, Austria. In 1966, she took a new name (always in capital letters) as an artistic concept and as a logo. Using her own body in combination with the century's evolving media--photography, film, video, and digital technology--she has sought to demystify the female body, to transform the representation of woman from object to subject. EXPORT's oeuvre continues to evolve in response to new technologies, shifting artistic perspectives, and a post-apocalyptic world view.

This exhibition surveys thirty-five years of EXPORT's career. On view in both the Goldie Paley and Levy Galleries, it features work that illustrates each of the artist's significant visual investigations: objects, posters, and photographic documentation of body performances; conceptual photography; expanded cinema; experimental film and video works; and sculptural installations; as well as a selection of short and feature-length films. Translations of texts by the artist accompany individual pieces to provide further explanation and context.