Mirosław Bałka

Mirosław Bałka was born in 1958 in Warsaw and lives and works in Otwock, Poland and Oliva, Spain. In 1991, he received the Mies van der Rohe-Stipendium of the art museums in Krefeld, Germany. Since 2010 Balka is a member of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin.

Bałka has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally. He participated in Documenta IX (1992), the Venice Biennial (1990, 2003, 2005 and 2013, representing Poland in 1993), Sao Paulo Biennale (1998), Liverpool Biennial (1999), Sydney Biennial (1992 and 2006), SITE Santa Fe's 6th International Biennial (2006) and the Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (1995). In 2009, the artist was awarded with the prestigious Unilever commission for the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern, London, where he presented the installation How it is.

Between 2015-2018, he presented a trilogy of retrospective exhibitions: “CROSSOVER/S” at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (2017), “Die Spuren” Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen (2017/18) and “Nerve. Construction” at the Museum of Arts Łodz (2015).
He presented solo exhibitions at The Gund Gallery, Kenyon College, Gambier OH (2024), Castello di Ama (2019), the Freud Museum, London (2014); Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, IHME Contemporary Art Festival, Helsinki (all 2013); Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2011); FRAC Centre Orléans (2011); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid and Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (both 2010); Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2008); Irish Museum of Modern Art Dublin and Museu de Arte de São Paulo/Museu de Arte Moderna Rio de Janeiro (both 2007); K21, Düsseldorf (2006); Museum of Contemporary Art, Strasbourg (2004); The Zacheta Gallery of Contemporary Art, Warsaw and SMAK, Ghent (both 2001); National Museum of Art, Osaka (2000); Museu Serralves, Porto (1998); Tate Gallery, London (1995); Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1994); Museum Haus Lange Krefeld, and Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago (both 1992).

His work is owned by museums worldwide including: Tate Modern, London; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; MOCA, Los Angeles; SFMOMA, San Francisco; MOMA, New York; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC; The Art Institute of Chicago; The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Museu Serralves, Porto; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Kiasma, Helsinki; Kröller-Müller, Otterlo; EMST The National Museum of Art, Athens; The National Museum of Art, Osaka; Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz; Zacheta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Tel Aviv Museum of Art. He has been commissioned to create a number of permanent outdoor works, including the memorial to the victims of the Estonia Ferry disaster in Stockholm (1997), AUSCHWITZWIELICZKA, Cracow (2010), and HEAL, University of California, San Francisco (2009).
Between 1986 and 1989 together with Miroslaw Filonik and Marek Kijewski he established the artistic group Consciousness Neue Bieremiennost.

Miroslaw Balka has been exhibiting with Galerie Nordenhake since 1990.