In 2012, Tuymans was invited by the Polish artist Mirosław Bałka to take part in a project in the town where Bałka had grown up: Otwock. This project involved interpreting the town’s history through artworks which were spread across over twenty locations. Tuymans contributed the painting "Die Nacht" (2012), which refers to Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's epic 1985 film installation on German history. During the second season in 2012, this painting hung in Bałka’s childhood bedroom. Tuymans also installed hundreds of black balloons in the ruins of Zofiówka, a former hospital for people with mental health conditions. In 1940, the building was part of the Otwock ghetto, and in 1942, during the Nazi occupation of Poland, its inhabitants either died of starvation, were shot, or were sent to the Treblinka concentration camp.