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.

In 2026 he presents a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montenegro in Podgorica and will participate in the 16th Manifesta Biennal, Ruhr area.a

His exhibition "Arbeit", curated by Anda Rottenberg was on view at Common Arts Foundation in Warsaw 2025. 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).
Other solo exhibitions by the artist were on view 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; SFMOMA, San Francisco; MOMA, New York; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC; The Art Institute of Chicago; Museu Serralves, Porto; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; The National Museum of Art, Osaka; Zacheta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw. 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).

Miroslaw Balka has been exhibiting with Galerie Nordenhake since 1990.