1 MAY until 20 JUN 2026
Opening – 1 MAY 2026, 6-9 pm

Franz West (1947–2012) and Bruno Gironcoli (1936–2010) rank among the most influential Austrian artists of the past decades. Their sculptures and objects are distinguished by a singular, immediately recognizable visual language and have had a lasting impact on the international art world.

Both were long regarded as outsiders before asserting themselves through persistence and a relentless creative drive. They remained closely connected throughout their lives, even though their works may at first appear markedly different.

West studied under Gironcoli at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in the 1970s and found in him an important mentor. Later, as West rose to become a leading figure on the international art scene, he was the one who helped bring Gironcoli the recognition he deserved beyond Austria.

Although the practices and trajectories of these two exceptional artists are deeply intertwined, there has never been a joint exhibition of West and Gironcoli. Logical Disorder brings their works into direct dialogue for the first time. On the one hand, the exhibition reveals that West and Gironcoli share a fascination with the curious, the absurd, and the bizarre. On the other, it highlights the fundamentally different approaches and artistic practices each develops from this shared impulse toward the eccentric.

Gironcoli celebrates the apparatus; West the being. Gironcoli exalts the polished, immaculate, metallic surface; West the rugged, uneven, patched skin. Gironcoli creates technomorphic, ritualized, and mythological bodies; West produces seemingly casual, everyday-oriented objects that invite use. Gironcoli stands for monumentality, artistic authority, and auratic closure; West for fragmentation, the anti-heroic, the participatory, the open sculpture.

In the encounter with the works on view, both the shared point of departure and the opposing directions become strikingly apparent. West is represented in the exhibition with his iconic seating objects, his well-known Passstücke, and several collages. Gironcoli is presented with the legendary Burning Child, his characteristic aluminum casts, and numerous drawings.

The exhibition title Logical Disorder refers both to the “converging divergence” of West’s and Gironcoli’s works and to the impulse that seems to drive both of them: to give form to existence in all its absurdity.

Logical Disorder is part of the Gallery Weekend Berlin 2026 and presented in collaboration with Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck/Vienna.