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| Valie Export Genital panic 1969 |
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Rights (Photo / Work):
© Bildrecht, Wien, 2013 List of sources: |
Valie Export performed "Genital Panic" in Munich: she entered a cinema wearing crotchless pants. Walking around the audience with exposed genitalia she announced that the audience now see in real life what they usually only see on the screens.[1] As a true female object within everybody's reach, she is now in the position to return the audience's looks. The guests were annoyed and left the cinema. In an interview regarding her performance Valie Export said: "Beyond the context of the film it was something completely different for them (the spectators) to get in touch with this particularly erotic symbol."[2] In the photo series associated to the performance "Genital Panic" she holds a gun in her hand assuming thus a typically male behavior intended to represent power. With these photos Valie Export changes the mens' perception of women deconstructing thus the current image of women and sending the message that women take over the power themselves and own and control their own bodies and sexuality. In an interview given in 2011 she states:"The problems regarding sexuality and power do still exist, for women as well as for men."[3] Valie Export and her body are the focus of her oeuvre.
Biografie: http://www.valieexport.at/de/biografie/ (Translation: K. Seifter) |
