7+1 – a salt sculpture by Mirosław Bałka became part of the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow yesterday (Monday, June 6th). Weight: ca. 4 tonnes; dimensions: 90×299×301 cm, year of creation: 1998. The first work by Bałka located in a public space in Poland was created especially for the first edition of the ArtBoom Visual Arts Festival. The sculpture is comprised of eight cylindrical elements made of rock salt and displayed on salt gravel. The cylinders come from the Kłodawa salt mine. The sculpture was originally created for the interior of the Puławska Financial Centre building in Warsaw. The symbolic use of salt is a reference to a time when it was used as a currency. The cylinders allude to the shape of coins, and the fact that one of them is revolving seems to be a symbol of money circulation.

Krakow is now home to the first permanent work by Bałka in the public sphere in Poland. The work, on display near MOCAK, is entitled AUSCHWITZWIELICZKA and was created especially for the first edition of the ArtBoom Visual Arts Festival. The Historia w sztuce MOCAK-u (History in MOCAK’s art) exhibition also showcases a video work by Bałka - Audi HBE F144 (2008). Mirosław Bałka is one of the most prominent modern sculptors. He was born in 1958. Between 1980 and 1985 he studied in the Faculty of Sculpture of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. In 1985 he received his diploma from the studio of Professor Jan Kucz. Between 1986 and 1989 he exhibited his works within the framework of the Świadomość Neue Bieriemiennost art group, which he established together with Mirosław Filonik and Marek Kijewski. He represented Poland at the Venice Biennale (1990 and 1995), as well as at the São Paulo (1998), Sydney (1992, 2006), and Santa Fe (2006) Biennales. In 1995 he received the Paszport Polityki award for his original artwork. He is the author of the monument to the victims of the MS Estonia ferry disaster, created in Stockholm in 1998.