The Osaka National Museum houses, among others, two works by Mirosław Bałka from 1998. - the ink drawing on paper 'Boy carrying balls' and the wood, steel, salt and plastic sculpture 'φ51x4, 85x43x49', which has been exhibited several times as part of the museum's collection shows, including a group exhibition in 2005. "Positioning - In the new reality of Europe: Art from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary".

Born in 1958, Mirosław Bałka is one of Poland's most prominent artists and his works appear in many museum collections and private collections. In 2009, the installation 'How it is' was shown at the Tate Modern in the prestigious Turbine Hall exhibition. The Osaka Museum houses (as of 2022) two works by Miroslaw Balka. An ink drawing and a sculptural installation 'φ51x4, 85x43x49' made of wood, steel, salt and plastic. The latter work consists of two elements - a chair hanging on a rope with a hole in the seat and hoops attached to the backrest. The chair is suspended so that it does not touch the ground and its seat is placed at an angle of about 45 degrees. In front of the chair is placed a 51-inch diameter hoop filled with salt. In it are placed two smaller hoops, without filling.

The motifs used in Mirosław Bałka's work, especially in the context of his other works, seem clear. Salt, which can evoke dried tears, the eloquent absence of the human body, chairs that do not leave any traces of suspension, empty circles - traces of memory, the symbolic proportions used in the title. These are recurring motifs in various ways in Bałka's work. A clear narrative about suffering, which can - as is often the case with Bałka - be read in the context of the Second World War, but which also has a more universal character. The author's characteristic understatements, the play between explicitness and complexity, build a special, disturbing character. They ensure that Bałka avoids trivialising evil, which is easy to do, by exuding suffering. Rather, we are confronted with its difficult, non-obvious and multidimensional experience.