He graduated from Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where since 2011 he has run Studio of Spatial Activities in Faculty of Media Art. He has participated in major exhibitions worldwide including Venice Biennale (1990, 2003, 2005, 2013; representing Poland in 1993), documenta 9, Kassel (1992), Sydney Biennale (1992, 2006), The Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (1995), São Paulo Biennale (1998), Liverpool Biennial (1999), Santa Fe Biennale (2006). In 2009 he presented the special project “How It Is” in Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London. His works are in the most important museum collections in the world, including Tate Modern, London; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; MOCA, Los Angeles; SFMOMA, San Francisco; MOMA, New York; and many others. He is a member of Akademie der Künste, Berlin. He works in Otwock and Warsaw.
“Eichmann”, 2018
sound work, 1’14’’, from collection of family Guttmann
Mirosław Bałka’s work focuses on memory, including the historical one, condition of an individual, problem of its own corporeality and transience. The artist deals with sculpture, video, drawing, and creates installations. “Eichmann” is a sound work in which the name of a German war criminal is read by a male voice and undergoes modifications by replacing the first syllable “Ei” with other grammatical forms in English as – I, you, she, he, it, we, you, they. The sound is emitted in loop. Adolf Eichmann was a member of the Gestapo, a Nazi, a person committing genocide, and the coordinator of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Today, he is a synonym of destruction and evil. Personal pronouns designate the performer of the activity, they indicate subject in a sentence. By changing the name of Eichmann in this way, Bałka complicates the matter of obvious judgments and asks everyone individually and all viewers together a question about responsibility for what is happening around us.
