11 March 2011 Bałka’s retrospective exhibition
At the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art we can admire works by Mirosław Bałka – a world-famous artist, sculptor, author of installations and a guest of the ArtBoom Tauron Festival and the Conrad Festival.
The Fragment exhibition is the first Polish and world comprehensive presentation of a retrospective character. It includes video works from the last twelve years of Bałka’s creative life. Beginning with the oldest, from 1998, and ending with the latest, from 2010. These last works are presented for the first time. The exhibition consists of his most famous works, which are already contemporary art classics, such as Winterreise (2003), Carrousel (2004 – bought in 2010 by the Tate Modern) and BlueGasEyes (2004).
Simultaneously with the Fragment exhibition at the CCA, Mirosław Bałka’s Ctrl exhibition, prepared by the Museo Reina Sofia is held in two places, the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid and in the Benedictine Abbey in Santo Domingo de Silos.
Mirosław Bałka (1958) – a sculptor, author of installations; one of the most outstanding and best known Polish contemporary artists. From 1980-1985 he studied in the Sculpture Department of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, from which he graduated, supervised by Professor Jan Kucz, in1985. From the very beginning of his artistic career, his personality and art aroused both admiration and controversies. He stared with a figurative sculpture: First Communion Souvenir (1985), Bad News (1986), Midnight Mass (1989). He has represented Poland at such events as the Venice Biennial (1990 and 1995), Sao Paulo Biennial (1998), and the Liverpool Biennial (1999). Mirosław Bałka’s works are parts of the biggest international art collections: Hishhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington), Tate Gallery (London), Museet for Samtid-kunst (Oslo), Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), The Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Muzeum Sztuki (Łódź). In 1995 he was awarded the Polityka’s Paszport prize for original artistic work.
The works will be exhibited to the 3rd of April 2011.