Action Pants: Genital Panic 1969

Curator: Here we have Valie Export's "Action Pants: Genital Panic," a series of six photographs, each roughly 66 by 46 centimeters. Editor: The grainy, almost newsprint quality gives the images a sense of immediacy. The repetition lends itself to thinking about reproduction and the street. Curator: Exactly. Export's street actions, documenting her wearing crotchless pants and interacting with the public, are inherently interventions into the traditionally male-dominated spaces of art and the city. Editor: And look at the actual pants themselves. What appear to be leather trousers are her primary tool, challenging conventions of fashion and exposing the constructed nature of gender itself. It is raw and immediate, cutting through the pretense. Curator: Her work challenged the Austrian art scene, advocating for video and performance, fighting against the male gaze and the institutional frameworks that uphold it. Editor: It all comes down to the materiality of the experience, the body as the primary canvas, the street as the gallery, and the public as the audience. Curator: It makes one think about how Export’s work reflects on current feminist struggles and the ongoing fight against objectification. Editor: It makes me think of reclaiming the body by any means, quite literally.