Mikołaj Smoczyński has been inspired by contemporary art movements such as Minimalism and Arte Povera. He is known for his minimalist, site-specific works — related to specific locations and the existing walls or floors found there. The Secret Performance is a photographic project that the artist carried out in a building at 11 Zana Street in Lublin. Its demolition in 1993 brought work on the series to an end.

According to Smoczyński, photography is not a direct record of reality, but rather allows for the creation of fictional spaces. The artist explained: ‘The object, which from that moment became the subject of observation, no longer existed as a sculpture (because its role as a sculpture had ended). It was now a kind of performance, executed by a medium that imposed its own conventions.’ The use of long exposure times in The Secret Performance series made the images dark and surreal.