valie export’s struggle with society
yesterday my wife and me visited an exhibition of valie export’s sculptures and installations of the last 20 years. valie export herself played the role of a guide.
one of her early videos impressed me. it shows her, naked, as she tries to get along with electrical wires, she crawls on all fours and gets ever more crippled when being hit by electric shocks. in talking about this video valie export said the wires signify the restrictions of society; society has not changed so far and goes on to domesticate individuals. thus she gave an idiosyncratic interpretation of the process of socialisation (admittedly right when characterising the neoliberal agenda for streamlining our bodies). what is missing here is the feedback. in the discussion after the guided tour she gave the full picture. individuals still struggle being partly successful and are so able to change the world. isn’t each of us responsible for how much we struggle?