born in 1958 in Białystok, currently lives and works in Warsaw. A graduate of the Secondary School of Fine Arts in Supraśl, in 1980–85 he studied with Jan Kucz at the Sculpture Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he obtained an honours degree, winning a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture and Art. In 2008 he obtained a PhD from the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań. 

In 1985, together with Mirosław Bałka and Marek Kijewski, he founded Neue Bieriemiennost, one of the most important Polish artist groups of the 1980s. Until 1989 the artists worked together on exhibitions in the spirit of “new expression” and “post painting sculptures.” 

Since 1990 he has been active as an individual artist, creating mostly lights installations with fluorescent lamps of his own design. He has presented his works at over one hundred colletive and individual exhibitions in Poland, at venues including the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw, Contemporary Art Gallery in Opole, Galeria Bielska BWA, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art in Gdańsk, as well as Polish Institutes in Berlin, Leipzig and Rome, galleries in Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Spain, and Venezuela. His works are kept in both state and private collections including the Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, and Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst in Leipzig. 

Mirosław Filonik has worked as a lecturer at the Poznań Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw University of Technology, and Białystok University of Technology, and has taken part in numerous symposia and workshops.