Miroslaw Balka:
The shadow of life’s mechanisms
artdesigncafé | café library | Published 15 September 2009
This interview was previously published in Sculpture magazine, 23(9), November 2004, pp. 36-41; and also in G. Harper & T. Moyer’s Conversations on Sculpture (2007), (International Sculpture Center Press: Hamilton, NJ, USA; distributed by University of Washington Press), pp. 218-23.
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Miroslaw Balka. 270 x 449 x 12, (2004). Foam, plywood, aluminum and rotating mechanism, 270 x 449 x 12 cm.
Worn medicine balls— used in Poland for physical therapy exercises—slowly turn counter-clockwise threaded on a steel rope, evoking the passage of time and the unflattering effects of aging. Center stage, there is a slowly rotating wall that will hit you— without warning—if you don’t watch out. And concluding the experience, a room with gray, sooty, ash-covered walls makes viewers enact a similar rotation, reminding us of our common future state. These are some of the works that Miroslaw Balka unveiled at a recent exhibition at London’s White Cube gallery.
Titled “Karma,” Miroslaw Balka’s show featured sculptural installations expressing timelessness, repetitive cycles, continuity, and progress/lack of progress. At first, the works may appear rather abstract, yet they are very much grounded in a representation based on the artist’s body and life. He has described his work in terms of releasing the energy contained in simple materials. Over the years, Balka has moved from a realistic representation of the human body to a more Minimalist conception, using a wide variety of media.
Exhibiting internationally since 2001, Balka has had solo exhibitions at the National Museum of Art in Osaka, Japan; the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands; the Zacheta Gallery of Contemporary Art, Warsaw; the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (SMAK), Gent, Belgium; Dundee Contemporary Arts in Scotland; and the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Dublin, Ireland, among others. His most recent show closed in October 2004 at the Barbara Gladstone Gallery in New York. He has also contributed pieces to group exhibitions at various museums and galleries around the globe. Born in Warsaw in 1958, Balka graduated from the city’s Academy of Fine Arts in 1985. He works and lives in the Polish capital.
R.J. Preece: How would you describe the work in this show compared to your previous work?
Miroslaw Balka: These works investigate the same issues, but I’m discovering different layers. This doesn’t mean that I consider this to be “progress.” I consider it to be like an archaeologist’s work. I’m digging into my life, my history, the history of the places that surround me, the history of the people who surround me—and the works are visualizations of these relationships.
R.J. Preece: You deal with a level of abstraction in relation to your body, through measurements, for example. Could you tell me about that? Because when you dissect the elements and principles of your works, the connections won’t always be obvious to viewers.
Miroslaw Balka: That’s true, but I think that while the presence of the body— and the body of the work— looks very abstract, the shadow of my body can be very realistic. Because the dimensions, in most cases, correspond to those of my body. Because the materials very often come from my personal history. As a result, these abstract works lose their abstract presence. They can then be recognized as much more realistic.
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Miroslaw Balka. 52 x 360 x 25, (2004). Steel, rope and hair, 52 x 360 x 25 cm.
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