VALI E EXPORT/PETER WEI BELMult imedial feminist ar t

THCMAS DREHER

EXPANDED CINEMA

ln 1968, the year of its founding, the Undependent FilmCenter in Munich organized the Frrst European Meetrng oflndependent Filmmakers. Birgit Hein writes', The necessarypublicity for the well vrsited crnema events was provrdedby the spectacular presentatrons of Valre Export's Tupp-und Tastfr lm (Grope and Touch Fi lm) and Peter Weibel 'sact ion 'Exi t ' . l

In Exi t , Weibel projected a f i lm onto a t in fo i l screen, unt i lhe interrupted the presentat ion 6y physical ly threateningthe audience from the cinema's stage, the s i te of thepresentat ion: Rocket bodies instead of mot ion pictures.2With the expuls ion f rom the cinema in Exi t , Weibel turnedvoyeur ism against i ts own premises: Aggression andcur iosi ty coupled in a phal locrat ic sexual i ty which placesi tsel f at the disposal of the feminine became opposingqual i t ies in the expuls ion f rom the cinema.ln Tapp- und Tastkrno, Export placed a box over her headto cover her exposed breasts; the open front of the boxwas covered by a curtain. The act ion taking place on stagebecame invis ib le and tangible, as opposed to the v is ib le,intangible gl immer of the c inema. Export invi ted passers-byto grope through the curtain for 12 seconds. As soon as a

passer-6y accepted the offer, the art ist turned her head tothe side to keep track of the t ime, After the t ime was up,Export looked at the person touching her and indicatedthat the act ion had come to an end. Export subjugatedpassers-by to a discipl ine of t ime, which subordinated thesub.lect ive sense of touch to an object ive framework.Export c i rcumvented the taboo of v isual sexual at t ract ionin publ ic places. By publ ic ly present ing female body partsnaked, but not v isual ly so, she corrected the sexualproject ion f ie lds, which are establ ished visual ly, but nottact i ly , 6y mass reproduct ions: spectacular 'object- images'( ' i rages-objets ' )3, which arouse cur iosi ty, were notpresent, By means of the tact i le, Export c i rcumventedrestr ict ive codes and then re- introduced them 6y means ofthe discipl ine of t ime: restr ict ive codes are, on a tact i lelevel , considerably more threatening for the body andone's sense of h is or her own body than visual coding, butalso less subt le.

FEATURE FILMS

Beginning in 197 6, Export and Weibel t ransformdönouement models of the feature f i lm genre by means ofmontage techniques, dream sequences, and pictor ia l mediain the pictor ia l medium, to make statements f rom a

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Valre EXPORTaus. Valre Export.Wien l9BB

Tapp- und Tastkrno, l968Eine intermedtale Kunstlerrn.

feminist standpoint , which, unt i l then, had been ei ther rareor impossible in th is genre.ln a scene from the fi lm Unsichtbare Gegner (lnvisibleAdversary), which Export and Weibel real ized together in1976177, Anna and Peter communicate with one anotherboth direct ly and, s imultaneously, by means of monitors.4ln 1984, in Die Praxis der Liebe (The Practice of Love),Export f i lms a monitor-quarrel between Judi th and Dr.

Josef Frischkoff . Only Judith is present.s Both scenes aredetermined by cr ises wi th in a relat ionship. In both cases,the monitor- image of the mascul ine part becomesindependent of the actor; and in each case, the maleimage expl icates the foundering of the relat ionship.ln both of these feature f i lms, reproduct ive media, such asphotography and video, which are presented in the f i lm aspart of the act ion, place'viewers of the f i lm in the role ofthe observer, who observe the (observed and observing)observers in the f i lm as they observe. The observed andobserving female observers in the f i lm become femaleprotagonists for viewers of both sexes: Just äs, in the f i lm,the actress attempts to orient herself between theimaginary, the symbolic and the real, the viewer attemptsto or ient his or herself between his or her ownproject ions, the f i lm world and the real circumstances ofthe presentat ion, and the project ion in the cinema.

M U LTI M EDIA-PE RFORMANCE

Stimmen aus dem lnnenraum (Voices from the Interior)was produced as a commission for the Ars Electronica andpresented in lgBB at the Brucknerhaus in Linz. The 'medial

structure' was real ized by Export and Weibel. During theperformance, Susanne Widl dressed up as Unica Zürn,Mae West, Mary Shel l"y, Augusta Ada Byron (Countess ofLovelace) and Linda Lovelace. \^/ idl worked with propsand gestures, which were characterist ic for the womenbeing presented. Excerpts from documents of the f ive

women were read by Widl onto an audio-cassette beforethe performance and played over loudspeakers togetherwith composit ions 6y Patr ic ia Junger. The textsdemonstrated how much the feminist opposit ion is st i l l aconsequence and therefore, al though more negative, amirror of patr iarchal structures.Computer graphics in sl ides and videos spl i t up digi tal izedimages from Widl 's impersonations of famous women invar ious ways: From the l imi ted number of shots of Widl 'sperformance, Muki Pakesch (video) and H.W, Pangratz(sl ides) generated images, which ranged fromreconstruct ions of the social role of the women presentedto al lusions, to completely free combinat ions of images.The videos were presented behind the actress in serialsequences on a portable mult i -monitor-wal l , which coveredalmost the ent ire back wal l . Four electronical ly coupledprojectors presented sl ides next to and over each otheron the back wal l of the room.

INTERMEDIAL ALLEGORICAL PROCEDURES

The performance Stimmen aus dem lnnenraumreconstructs the avant-garde method of montage withtheatr ical and electronic media - media, which are olderand younger than montage itself. Montage as arecombinat ion of decontextual ized set pieces leads toAllegorical Procedures6, to allusions to world conditions ina state of upheaval. The al legorical in montage processesranges from history in a state of d ecayT to a Vitallyprogressive history of humankinds: ruininge not only allowsthat which has become stat ic to tumble down, i t alsoproduces the dynamic necessary for change - withoutconst i tut ing a new conception of the world through thecontradictory relationship of heterogeneous partst]. InStimmen aus dem lnnenrauffi, Export and Weibel choosesuch code-fragments of the feminine, which revealthemselves as ruins of col lapsed patr iarchal conceptions of

Peter WEIBEL On Justifying the HypotheticalNature of Art and the Non-ldenticality within theObject World. lmage of the World of Language,1992 Courtesy Galerie Tanja Grunert, Köln

the world. Computer graphics energize the intercoursewith the signs of decay: static contrasts betweenpatriarchal society and futi le feminine counter-movementsbecome feminist processes of transformation, a dialectic oftransformer and transformed.ln Stimmen, an intermedial montage is constituted by themutual reference between three levels:a.) A l lving body (actress).b.) Masquerade of the actress (a.) for a simulation of rolesin real space. The roles refer to reference points in pastreality: The past is re-enacted as the semblance of aformerly l iving being with the help of accessones.c.) Electronic image simulation, in which signs are rnfinitelyreproducible and transformable and sign operations arereversible. The image simulation combines fragments fromb.) with each other as well as with additional elements.C.) receives a function through b.) that refers back tohistorical handicaps. Through the infinite, unlimrtedpossibil i t ies of transformation, which c.) presents in facets,the historical framework of b.) is revealed as being l imitedand restricted by pre-codings.

ANAGRAMS

ln a text on the oerformance Stimmen aus oemlnnenraum, Weibel places image simulation in connectionwith the anagrams of Unica Zürnt t : f rom the fountain-heads of one of the chosen women who struggle againsttheir pre-conditioned roles - the only one to have put anabrupt end to her own life - Export and Weibel takepossibil i t ies for an alternative interpretation of signs.Syllables, sounds and letters can be substrtuted in anagramswithout regard for their semantics: ln anagrams,onomatopoeic expressions and numerous other linguistictricks, the word, the syllable and the sound strut,emancipated from every semantic association, as a thing,which may be allegorically exploited.tzAccording to Weibel, with reference to the dolls of HansBellmer, who was married to Zürn, the use of signswithout semantic restrictions is translatable into ananagrammaticism of the bodyt3. The double role ofBel lmer 's dol ls - of being sign- l ike and real s imultaneously,and thus presenting as dead bodies an amalgamation ofsign-forms and sign-bearers - which allows them tobecome ideal bearers of wishful phantasies, is, however,not reoeated in the oerformance. Bellmer's doll mechanicsis divided in two levels: in the masquerade (b.) and theimage simulation of body set pieces (c.), and both levelsare created with and refer to a real body, to a femaleprotagonist (u ). By playing through a plurality ofexemplary female roles (b.), she runs up against theborder of the transgression of established role-norms,while the image simulation (c.) has crossed these borders.The 'phall ic significant' is, according to Jacques Lacan, thesource of d iv is ions on this s ide of and beyond a borderra,whereby both sides are mirrors of each other. Export andWeibel understand divisions in gender-specific oppositionalpairs, in analogy to Lacan, as 'binary ambivalences' -

ambivalent because the binary opposition of masculine-feminine refers to a masculine power which producesdichotomizat ion. ls The fates of the women (b.) ,reconstructed by Widl with theatrical means, stand today

Valie EXPORT Die Praxrs der Lrebe, l9B4aus: Valie Export. Eine rntermediale Künstlerin, Wien l98B

for a feminist negation of the phal locrat ic power that hadpreviously negated them.In the unrestr icted electronic generat ion of s igns ( . . ) , sel f -referent ia l t ransformat ions become possible beyond'binaryambivalences' . The di f ference between the electronicgenerat ion of s igns ( . . ) and the theatr ical s imulat ion ofroles (b ) cannot be descr ibed as the div is ion of aphal locrat ic structure into binary features, but rather asthe yet to be and already arr ived at solut ion of 'b inary

ambivalences' . Computer s imulat ion themat ic izes th isseparat ion with i ts spectrum from reconstruct ions of socialhistory to f ree combinat ions.

POTLATCH

The concept 's ign-funct ion' stands for a l imi ted number ofpossible ways of coordinat ing s igns with meaning (poet ic,emot ive, referent ia l , imperat ive, phat ic and meta- l inguist ic) ,whi le the concept 'code' stands for an accumulat ion ofs igns, which are coordinated with meanings. The signsreceive their meaning and their c lassi f icat ion as elements ofa code through use.The anagrammaticism in Stimmen contradicts functionall inguist ic interpretat ions. In accordance with JeanBaudri l lard 's l inguist ic cr i t ic ism, the typology of s ign-funct ions i tsel f may be understood as an addi t ional grouPof s igns, as one among inf in i te ly numerous codes, insteadof as a fundamental l inguist ic pr inciple. Baudr i l lard does notaccept the way in which Roman Jakobson and JÜrgenHabermas attempt to re-semanti cize the sign-funct ion ofpoet ic de-semant izat ionl6 by integrat ing i t as a special caseinto a group with semant i c iz ing s ign-funct ions. lT This woulddomesticate the power of self-referent ial sign-forms, whichbursts open semantizat ion processes: Le poötrque estirröductible au mode de signifrcatron, qui n'est que le mode

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Val ie EXPORT - Peter WEIBELLinda Lovelace, Mae West, Mary

St immen aus dem lnnenraum, l9BB Susanne Widl ( l inks) mitShel ley Photo Courtesy Brucknerhaus, Linz

Bi ldnissen von, und (rechts) als, Unica Zürn, Ada Lovelace,

de product ion des valeurs de langage. C'est pourquoi i l esti r röduct ib le ä la l inguist ique, qui est la science de ce modede product ion. . . Le poÖtique, c 'est la rest i tut ion de| 'öchange sym bol iq ue au coeu r möme des mots. I B

Toute forme de la valeur (objet, marchandise ou srgne)doit ötre niöe pour inaugurer l'öchange symbolique.teIn the 'symbol ic exchange' wi thout 'value product iof l ' ,Baudr i l lard sees a way out of the at t r ibut ion of meaning.The Lettr ists and the Si tuat ionists - borrowing from thePotlatch of the North American Indians - have alsodeveloped a model of value-free exchange: theconsumption of the mater ia l and work values by thebearer of the sign in symbolic gi f ts is presented as thecontraposi t ion of capi ta l is t ic value product ion (ut i l i ty andexchange valu.) .20 The appropr iat ion ( 'dötournement ' ) ofelements f rom a value-producing society as propagated 6ythe Lettr ists and the Si tuat ionists has been extended byExport and Weibel in Vorces to include the appropr iat ionof signs for a self-referent ial , value-free transformation incomputer-generated images. In the exchange ofimmater ia l ly conveyed signs, there is no waste of mater ia land work values, s ince the product ion of s ign-bearers isomit ted. But the presence of sublects that communicatewith one another is, however, a lso no longer aprerequis i te f or symbol ic exchange' .

I B. HEIN, Film trn Underground: VonKino. Frankfurt a. M, i Ber l rn iWren 197 | ,

seinen Anfangen brs zum Unabhängtgenp l43

2 HEIN, see note l , p.157

3 G. DEBORD, La soctete du spectacle. Parrs 1967, p. l4,r l5

4 For more on the plot , see: A. PRANNER, Valre Export : Erne mult tmedrale

Kunst ler tn, Wren l9BB pp | | I l2 l

5 For rnore on the plot , see' G.J. LISCHKA (ed.1, Al les und noch vrel mehr-, Bern

1 985, p BB2

6 H.D.B. BUCHLOH, Al legortcal Procedures, rn: Art forLtm, Sept. 1982, pp.a3 56

7 W. BENJAMIN, Ursprung des deutschen Trauersptels, Frankfurt a.M 1978,

pp l55f f .B Benlamin (see note 7, p.144) quotes Gorres f rom F. CREUZER, Symbolrk und

Mythologte der alten Völker, besonders der Grrechen, Part l, Leipzrg/Darmstadt

lBl9, p l47f f ,9 B. BROCK, Asthettk gegen erzwungene Unmit te lbarkert . . . , Cologne 1986,

pp 176 l87; V. EXPORT, Das Reale und sern Double: der Korper, Bern l9B7

o.35nt rh--n

l0 P. BURGER, Theorre der Avantgarde, Frankfurt a.M. 1974, p. l l0

I I U. ZÜRN Gesa mtausgabe, Volume | : Anagramme, Ber l rn lgBB; P. WEIBE-,

Stimmen aus dem lnnenraum. tn: Ars Electrontca; Kunst der Szene, Brucknerhaus

Lrnz I98B, pp.136 l48 (exhrbi t ron catalogue): a lso: Export , pp. l2f f .

l2 BENjAMIN, see note 7, p. l83

l3 \^/E|BEL, see note | | , p. 137

l4 EXPORT, see note 9, p. l9; J. LACAN. Ecr i ts / / , Parrs 197 1, pp.6772, 103 t l5;

cf . j . BAUDRILLARD, L 'öchange symbohque et la mort , Parrs 1976, pp. l55-160

20

l5 V, EXPORT and P. WEIBEL, Die Zweihei t der Natur, in: Computerkul tur tage

Lrnz, ORF-Videonale 86, ORF Landesstudro, L inz 1986, pp.aTff . (exhibrtron

catalogue)l6 Poet ic s igns refer to therr s ign-form, tnstead of to their meanrng.

l7 R. JAKOBSON, Lrngurst ics and Poet ics, in: T.A. SEBEOK, Styie rn Language,

Cambridge, Mass./London 1960, pp.350 377; J. HABERMAS , Der phi losophrsche

Dskurs der Moderne: zwolf Vor lesungen, Frankfurt a.M. 1985, pp.235,238lB BAUDRILLARD, see note 14, pp.289,298 in response to: F. SAUSSURE,

Cahiers d 'anagrammes, publ ished in: J. STAROBINSKI, Les mots sous /es mots,

Par is 197 |l9 J. BAUDRILLARD, Pour une cr i t tque de I 'economie polr tque du sgne, Parrs

1972, o l47

20 The word'pot latch'( can be traced back to the Chrnook w'ord'potshat l ' ,

which means ' to give away . The Indians of the Amerrcan North-West Coast

appease the gods through'pot latch'and secure therr socral posrt ton through grf ts.(H. LANG, Kul turgeschichte der lndtaner Nordamerrkas, Gottrngen l99l , pp.32 |

324' , cf . G. DEBORD, Le röle de 'Pot latch' , in ' . Pot latch, Neue Ser ie, No. I (No.

30) i | 959, a per iodical of the Lettr ist ic Internat ional) . In 1967 , Raoul Vaneigem

wrote, rn the sense of Marcel Mauss' ideal of a non recrprocal , or rather

asymmetrrcal extravagance (M. MAUSS, Fssar sur le don, quoted rn: G. BATAILLE,

Oeuvres Complätes, Par is 197 1, Vol . l , p.310): What w'onderful 'Pot latch' , .vr thout

counter-consideration the surplus soctety wtll gtve Crth to. whether rt wants to or

not, when the effusiveness of the younger generation finally drscovers pure gtvtng.

(R. VANEIGEY, Handbuch der Lebenskunst fur dte Jungen Generatronen, Parrs

1977, p.75; cf . Claude Lövr-Strauss' rnterpretatron of the exchange of wine ' rn

restaurants in Southern France rn expressrons of socral gr f ts ' tC. LEVI STRAUSS,

Strukturale Anthropologie, Vol . l , Frankfurt a.M. 1991, pp.364ff . i . In 1961.

Vanergem suggested to the Srtuat ionrsts, that paint ings f ronr iean Dubuffet , Asger

Jorn, Wi l lem De Kooning, Pablo Prcasso, and others should be made avai lable to

be destroyed ' in a sensat ional Pot latch (R. ORTN, Phantom Avantgarde.. . ,

Hamburg 1990, p.256). Exchange wrthout value product ion and anagrammatrcrsm

become for Baudrr l lard (pp.295ff . ) mutual ly r l lumrnatrr tg aspects.

Translat ion f rom the German by G6rard A. Goodrow and

Andreas Fr i tsch, Cologne.

Val ie EXPCRT (Waltraut Höl l inger, 1940,in Vienna and Mi lwaukee/Wisconsin. SinceVideo at the Universi ty of Wisconsin.

Linz, Austr ia) l ives and worksl9B9 Professor for Fi lm and

Peter WEIBEL (" 1945, Odessa) is Director of the Inst i tute for NewMedia at the Stadelschule in Frankfurt a.M, s ince 1991. He wi l l be the

Commissioner of the Austr ian Pavi l ion at the Biennial of Venice 1993.

Thomas DREHER ( '1957) is an art cr i t rc and l ives in Munich.