In Syntagma by VALIE EXPORT, the great protagonist is the woman’s body and its relationship with the reality around it. The body that, each time, adapts to different contexts, to different forms. The body that only thanks to cinema has the possibility of “freeing itself”, of finding many new and unexpected declinations, of discovering a new self.
A perfect Pair is distinguished first and foremost by the subtle irony and self-irony that has always characterised the works of VALIE EXPORT. The protagonists seem almost like caricatures, but, in fact, they fit well into a context in which advertising and the exhortation to consumerism play a central role.
Adjunct Dislocations reflects on the perception of space and points of view shown to us in film. The human body (in this case, that of director VALIE EXPORT) becomes, here, together with the cameras, the main actor.
Performer, photographer, avant-garde filmmaker and ardent feminist. In spite of the many controversies, in spite of the endless discussions to which her art has given rise, today, finally, the undoubted importance of VALIE EXPORT is worldwide acknowledged.
Reality, the everyday and human bodies take on completely new and unexpected forms in the works of Viennese Actionism. New forms, new colours, disturbing images, animal entrails and organic substances express a new way of rebelling and conceiving art, mocking the consumerist and conservative society and that dangerous latent fascism that, despite the end of the war, still seems to be alive and pulsating.
If VALIE EXPORT (born Waltraud Lehner) with her photographs, installations and video installations has become world-famous since the 1970s, it was not long before she made her debut in the world of seventh art. Invisible Adversaries, made in 1976, is therefore his first feature film, in which numerous influences from other art forms are evident.
VALIE EXPORT, born Waltraud Lehner, in Human Females draws her inspiration from past works, while at the same time developing her own language, without being afraid to experiment. The focus is on women in all their possible aspects.
Looking back over the history of cinema, one cannot fail to notice the large number of Austrian women directors – contemporary and past – who have contributed (and still contribute) to an ever richer and more varied filmography that is indeed little known, but also incredibly diversified and full of surprises.