The Center for Contemporary Art (CSW) in Warsaw is hosting an exhibition of the newest work by Hanna Łuczak, one of the most fascinating multimedia Polish artists of her generation. Entitled Russian Roulette, the exhibition comprises three installations created over the past several years and involving drawings and photographs. They are Strings (2008) with text and over 100 drawings and photographs, Mimicry (2007) comprising a dozen large-format photographs, and To and Fro (2007), an installation with mirrors. Visitors to the gallery can also see two of Łuczak's latest works, a cartoon installation called Viva la Fantom and the titular Russian Roulette.

The main themes of the exhibition are the concepts of memory and imagination. Łuczak gives an existential dimension to memory which, according to her, determines the formation of personal identity. "Memory is tied to times past," Łuczak said, "but at the same time, it is constantly modified as it confronts the present, which alters memories, processes, represses, complements and sometimes even mythologizes them. This way, memory inseparably works with imagination, giving life and credibility to it and personifying it."

In the To and Fro installation, Łuczak placed framed mirrors so they face each other to complicate the logic of a mirror reflection. This way, the artist disturbed the functioning of a mirror's memory. In the Mimicry series of self-portraits, Łuczak puts layers of make-up on her face one by one to toy with her own identity.

M.R.

Until April 4
Ujazdowski Castle Center for Contemporary Art, Gallery 1, 2 Jazdów St.
tel. 22 628-12-71 to -73
www.csw.art.pl