Catalogue > At random

As usual, the film is “shown” in the dark. But the cinema has shrunk somewhat – only two hands fit inside it. To see (i.e. feel, touch) the film, the viewer (user) has to stretch his hands through the entrance to the cinema. At last, the curtain which formerly rose only for the eyes now rises for both hands. The tactile reception is the opposite of the deceit of voyeurism. For as long as the citizen is satisfied with the reproduced copy of sexual freedom, the state is spared the sexual revolution. “Tap and Touch Cinema” is an example of how re-interpretation can activate the public. (VALIE EXPORT) This outdoor action on Munich's Stachus square translates the concept of expanded cinema and the cinema's fairground roots into the “first immediate women’s film”, as the artist describes her “Tap and Touch Cinema”. “Public” accessibility – restricted to 30 seconds per person – is noisily proclaimed by Peter Weibel. A direct demonstration of cinema as a projection space for male fantasies, this still ironic transgression of the border between art and life is an early indication of VALIE EXPORT’s often risky, but always resolute, deployment of her own body in later works.

VALIE EXPORT, Prof. Dr. h.c.media and performance artist, filmmaker born in Linz, lives and works in Vienna VALIE EXPORT’s artistic work comprises: video environments, digital photography, installation, body performances, feature films, experimental films, documentaries, Expanded Cinema, conceptual photography, body-material interactions, Persona Performances, laser installations, objects, sculptures, texts on contemporary art history and feminism. VALIE EXPORT is one of the most important pioneers on conceptual media art, performance and film. 1967 invention of her artist name VALIE EXPORT: an artistic concept and logo to be written in capital letters only VALIE EXPORT takes part at the documenta 12 2007, and documenta 6, 1977, in Kassel 1985 nomination of EXPORT's feature film “Die Praxis der Liebe”, screenplay and direction, for the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival Since 1975 curatorial projects, international symposiums, exhibitions and film programmes Her works are in international collections like Centro Pompidou, Paris, Tate Modern, London, Reine Sophia, Madrid, MOMA, New York, MOCA, Los Angeles ect. Since 1968 participation in international exhibitions, for example: Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Institute of Contemporary Art, London; Venice Biennale, Venezia; documenta, Kassel; MoCA, Los Angeles; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; MUMOK, Vienna; Generali Foundation, Vienna; P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles; Tate Modern, London; Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea; Metropolitan Museum, New York; ars electronica, Linz/Austria. Screenings at international film and video festivals, for example London Underground Film Festival; London International Film Festival; Filmex, Los Angeles; Berlin International Film Festival as well as film festivals in Cannes, Montréal, Vancouver, San Francisco, Locarno, Hongkong, Sydney, New York, etc.