Shy at Work

Shy at Work is a landmark retrospective that brings into sharp relief a less-well-known but profoundly vital dimension of Bruno Gironcoli’s oeuvre: his work on paper as painter and draftsman. Curated by Manuela Ammer, the exhibition opens new dialogues between Gironcoli’s graphic universe—from the 1960s through the 1990s—and his celebrated sculptural practice.

Drawing from two levels at mumok, Shy at Work juxtaposes approximately 150 works on paper with significant examples of Gironcoli’s sculptural and installation practices: wire sculptures, polyester objects, monumental sculptures, and mixed media works.

While situated within the history of 20th-century Austrian and international art, Gironcoli’s work remains strikingly prescient. Themes such as the tension between nature and technology; the alienation inherent in consumer culture; the negotiation of individual identity in a crowded symbolic world; the power of ritual, mask, surface—all these resonate powerfully in our contemporary moment. Shy at Work invites viewers to reconsider what it means for art to emerge from the folds between seeing and being, between image and object.