In the summer of 2011, Balcer collaborated with Chinese artist Xu Bing on an artwork that was part of Xu Bing's exhibition "Tobacco Project Virginia" at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in September of that year. "The Washington Post" named "Tobacco Project Virginia" one of the Top Ten art exhibitions of 2011. Balcer's contribution—a poem entitled "Backbone" using Virginia tobacco plantation brand names as a tribute to the enslaved black women who picked the tobacco—was integrated by Xu Bing into an installation. The work is now part of the VMFA's permanent collection.