DIPLOMARBEIT Titel der Diplomarbeit „The Performed Self – Gender in Performance Art with special focus on VALIE EXPORT“ Verfasserin Bakk. phil. Stephanie Hopf angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag.phil.) Wien, Juni 2011 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 343 641 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Anglistik und Amerikanistik Betreuerin: Prof. Dr. Astrid Fellner Hinweis Diese Diplomarbeit hat nachgewiesen, dass die betreffende Kandidatin oder der betreffende Kandidat befähigt ist, wissenschaftliche Themen selbstständig sowie inhaltlich und methodisch vertretbar zu bearbeiten. Da die Korrekturen der/des Beurteilenden nicht eingetragen sind und das Gutachten nicht beiliegt, ist daher nicht erkenntlich, mit welcher Note diese Arbeit abgeschlossen wurde. Das Spektrum reicht von sehr gut bis genügend. Es wird gebeten, diesen Hinweis bei der Lektüre zu beachten. 1 A TRUTH IN ART IS THAT WHOSE CONTRADICTORY IS ALSO TRUE (Oscar Wilde) 2 Acknowledgements This study owes much to the generosity of many institutions and people. Thanks to the staff of the English Department at the University of Vienna and the people at the library for helping me with the diversity of literature. Many thanks to Generali Foundation, Vienna, and the staff in the study room for always making reservations and for providing the opportunity to watch VALIE EXPORT’s movies for hours. Special thanks to Prof. Astrid Fellner who was not only my supervisor but who also offered valuable assistance in difficult times, not to forget her long journeys from Saarland University, Saarbrucken, to Vienna. I also want to thank Prof. Monika Seidl for her help and support in the diploma seminar. Many thanks to the artist VALIE EXPORT who spent time answering all my questions in an interview via e-mail honestly and elaborately. I have benefitted from her exhibitions at Belvedere - Vienna, Lentos - Linz and Centre Pompidou – Paris, as well as from her guided tour through the exhibition in Vienna – thanks for that. My partner, friends and flat mates have always been there for me and deserve special mention for their support. Thanks to: David Kröter, Julia Moosbrugger, Larissa Vierthaler, Maria Aufegger, Patrick Würschl, Nikolas Kichler, Alfred Burian and Inês Tavares Correia. They always cheered me up in difficult times and supported me emotionally. My deepest gratitude goes to my family. Thanks to my parents who have always supported me in anything I wanted to do and who assisted me emotionally. Thanks to my grandparents for just being so brave. Thanks also to my brother Maximilian for the many hours of fun and for his help and support with technical inquiries. 3 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 9 2. VALIE EXPORT – A Biography ......................................................................... 13 3. A short history of the concept of Performance ................................................... 17 3.1. Performance Studies ........................................................................................ 17 3.2. The concept of liminality ................................................................................. 20 3.3. Performances ................................................................................................... 21 3.3.1. The subject-object division ....................................................................... 21 3.3.2. Black Mountain College ........................................................................... 22 3.3.3. “Lifelike” art ............................................................................................. 23 3.3.4. Happening ................................................................................................. 24 3.3.5. Fluxus ....................................................................................................... 27 3.4. Performance and Performativity ...................................................................... 27 3.4.1. The concept of performativity .................................................................. 27 3.4.2. Performativity and identity ....................................................................... 30 3.4.3. How does representation work? ............................................................... 33 4. Body-Art or: the Art on the Body ........................................................................ 36 4.1. Body art of Viennese Actionism ...................................................................... 38 4.2. Feminist Actionism .......................................................................................... 41 4.3. The Female Body in Performance ................................................................... 44 5. VALIE .................................................................................................................... 48 5.1. Technologies of the body in VALIE EXPORT’s works ................................. 49 5.1.1. The female body as sexualized object ...................................................... 49 5.1.2. The vulnerable body ................................................................................. 50 5.1.3. The oppressed body .................................................................................. 51 5.1.4. The socially and culturally constructed body ........................................... 51 5.1.5. The dead and fragmented body ................................................................ 52 4 5.1.6. The divided body ...................................................................................... 52 5.1.7. The two-foldedness of the body ............................................................... 53 5.1.8. The written body ....................................................................................... 54 5.1.9. The body as source of language and speech ............................................. 55 6. EXPORT’s works as cultural texts ...................................................................... 56 6.1. Parody .............................................................................................................. 56 6.1.1. Touch Cinema (1968) ............................................................................... 57 6.1.2. Genital Panic (1969) ................................................................................. 58 6.1.3. From the Underdog File (1969) ................................................................ 59 6.1.4. The Birth Madonna (1976) ....................................................................... 60 6.2. Mimesis ............................................................................................................ 61 6.2.1. Body Configurations (1972-1982) ........................................................... 62 6.2.2. Body Superimpositions with Historical Reproductions (1974) ................ 64 6.2.3. Venus and Mars (1976) ........................................................................... 66 6.2.4. Invisible Adversaries (1977) .................................................................... 67 6.3. Citation ............................................................................................................. 69 6.3.1. Kausalgie (1973) ...................................................................................... 70 6.3.2. Salzburg Cycle (2001) .............................................................................. 71 6.4. Symbolism ....................................................................................................... 73 6.4.1. Syntagma (1983) ...................................................................................... 73 6.4.2. Glottis (2007) ............................................................................................ 77 6.4.3. Heads – Aphaeresis (2002) ....................................................................... 79 6.4.4. Needle (1996) ........................................................................................... 80 6.5. The representation of pain and self-harming ................................................... 81 6.5.1. Hyperbulie (1973) .................................................................................... 82 6.5.2. Eros/ion (1971) ......................................................................................... 83 6.5.3. … remote … remote … passages (1973) ................................................. 84 6.5.4. Identity-Transfer (1972) ........................................................................... 86 5 7. Back then and today – still a restricted code? .................................................... 87 8. Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 92 9. Abstract .................................................................................................................. 96 9.1. Abstract English ............................................................................................... 96 9.2. Abstract German .............................................................................................. 97 10. Bibliography ....................................................................................................... 98 10.1. Books ............................................................................................................ 98 10.2. Articles ......................................................................................................