Pola Weiss, Valie Export and Shigeko Kubota. The body as a symbol, video art as a tool

Abstract

This article presents a comparative study of the creative processes, audiovisual works, and historical contexts of three pioneering video artists: Pola Weiss (Mexico), Valie Export (Austria), and Shigeko Kubota (Japan/United States). Drawing on a qualitative approach and a multiple case study methodology, the article analyzes the artistic strategies through which these artists employed the female body as a symbolic device and video as a mediatic and performative tool during the 1970s. The analysis integrates formal and discursive examinations of selected works, as well as the review of archival materials and documentary sources, with particular emphasis on the Pola Weiss Collection at the Arkheia Documentation Center (MUAC-UNAM). From a transnational perspective, the article identifies both convergences and specificities in the use of the body, the camera, and emerging technological resources, situating Pola Weiss’s work in direct dialogue with the practices of Export and Kubota. As a result, the article proposes a critical re-reading of pioneering video art produced by women, challenging dominant historiographical hierarchies and recognizing the central role of these practices in the consolidation of video art as an expanded field within contemporary art.