Life in the castle

At the start of the slow season in theaters and opera halls, the Center for Contemporary Art in Ujazdowski Castle is bustling with life. Next week will be particularly busy there, as they are opening three major exhibitions and apparently all of them are well worth seeing.

The soul of New York

In contrast to Tarasewicz's explosion of colors, the second exhibit at Ujazdowski Castle is set in rigid forms of classical photography. Wojciech Wieteska, the author of a set of photographs entitled N.Y.C.#02 is actually a die-hard believer in the power of documentary photography, which is by definition a very faithful reflection of its heroes and the reality it represents. In his search for inspiration, the author has traveled to various parts of the world, mainly cities, where he created his huge photographic projects. Many of his works come from trips to the U.S. west, but he has also been to Africa, Japan, the middle east and Australia. His first big photographic portrait of a city was a series of photos taken in Tokyo.

His latest project, as you may have probably guessed, focuses on New York City and offers the author's subjective vision of the metropolis. The photos may not inspire you to book a flight to N.Y. right away, but they may certainly bring back some personal memories from the city.

A novel way of looking at the female body

The last element of the Ujazdowski Castle trio is presented in a totally different mood and borders on kitchen humor. Alicja Łukasiak's Females are nothing other than huge - two- to three-meter-high - sculptures made of bread dough in the shape of a female body.

The artist, who is an experienced sculptor, plays on the similarity between female body shapes and the forms created by rising dough. Each of the crunchy and crispy monuments has been made using a slightly different technology, and one of them is said to be constantly rising during the exhibition.

It's a refreshing change in the approach to the subject of a female body, whose constant run after perfectionism has been more than exhausted by slick female magazines.

All exhibitions are on display

at the Center for Contemporary Art,

al. Ujazdowskie 6 (in the Ujazdowski Castle), tel. 628-1272. Open Tue-Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.