Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, St James's, London SE14 6AD
For her first solo exhibition in London, ‘4LIFE’, multidisciplinary artist Kris Lemsalu transforms the upstairs galleries at Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art into a supernatural realm, occupied with otherworldly, absurdist characters that guide you through stages of birth, life and death. Review by Julia Schouten
Auto Italia, 44 Bonner Road, London E2 9JS
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‘Read My Lips’ is a powerful retrospective of agitprop collective Gran Fury, an autonomous unit stemming from the New York caucus of radical international direct action group ‘AIDs Coalition To Unleash Power’ or ACT UP. Review by Sophie Risner
Plymouth College of Art, Tavistock Pl, Plymouth PL4 8AT
Simon Bayliss’ exhibition, Meditations in an Emergency, is an exhibition of multitudes, crossing from pottery and electronic music to watercolour landscapes, poetry and performative film. The show by is a marriage of the seemingly incongruous, such as the neon sign alternating SIMON BAYLISS / SIN ON GAY BLISS reflecting on the glazing of his pottery. It is a joining, as the words inscribed on the pot reads, of ‘high and low with one another’. Review by Eva Szwarc
Humber Street Gallery, 64 Humber St, Hull HU1 1TU
Raised as a socialist and a druid and initiated into political activism at a young age, Jamie Reid blames his parents for his rebellious streak; which at the age of 71, shows no sign of abating. The self-described anarchist uses iconoclastic collages and seditious ransom note-style idioms to marshal a cultural insurgence against the status quo; while his kaleidoscopic paintings reject materialism and individualism through a meditative connection with nature. Review by Christopher Little
Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, Via Chiese, 2, 20126 Milano MI, Italy
Curated by Vicente Todolí, Pirelli HangarBicocca Milan is currently presenting the iconic Igloos of Mario Merz (1925–2003) - a key figure of Arte Povera, and considered to be one of the most important post-war Italian artists; the exhibition brings together his most iconic oeuvre of work, the igloos, which date from 1968 until the end of the artist’s life. Review by Paul Black
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, S Shore Rd, Gateshead NE8 3BA
Phillipson also throws a good measure of animal love into this heady mix, and none are more receiving of this affection than the colony of Kittiwakes that nest on BALTIC’s exterior. Their distinctive squawks are mixed into the electronic trance music, while wall-mounted television screens show ‘live’ feeds of the birds and a downloadable app reveals their ‘augmented reality excrement’. Review by Christopher Little
Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, 337-338 Belvedere Rd, Lambeth, London SE1 8XX
Featuring work from over twenty artists, this final show of the Hayward’s 50th season hopes to alter your perception of space, sometimes dramatically, sometimes subtly. But, as objects in a rear-view mirror may in fact be larger than they appear, the reflective experience can be diminutive. Absorbing, yes. Engaging, yes. But shallow. Just ask Narcissus. Review by Adam Heardman
Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Durslade Farm, Dropping Ln, Bruton BA10 0NL
Each is a pallet with layers of folded and stacked hide, forming their own contours and falls, where the odd pinks, yellows and blues of these objects speak of the fatty animals these hides once were, and the treated material they will become. Review by Stan Portus
William Benington Gallery, Unit 3, 50 Tower Bridge Road, London, SE1 4TR and Upfor Gallery, 929 NW Flanders St, Portland, OR 97209, USA
Each work across both shows and throughout Stephens’ practice exists as part of an interlinking chain. She continually returns to and reuses ideas, allowing them to land and re-land, resisting the ossifying force of finitude and following the fluidity of nature’s endless cycles. Review by Sara Jaspan
Studio Voltaire, 1a Nelsons Row, London SW4 7JR
Referring to martyrdom’s queer capacity, McDermott & McGough’s ambitious installation ‘The Oscar Wilde Temple’ at Studio Voltaire promotes an awareness of cross-generational queer activism. Review by Ryan Kearney
Plymouth, UK
Over the course of three weeks, a variety of unusual sites throughout Plymouth have been transformed into exhibition spaces, from pedestrianised streets and dilapidated buildings to shop-front windows, as part of The Atlantic Project: After The Future, a pilot biennial for the South West region. Review by Eva Szwarc
Jerwood Visual Arts, Jerwood Space, 171 Union Street, Bankside, London SE1 0LN
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An assembly of work from fifteen early career artists who have been nominated from across the UK, ‘Survey’ is an exhibition comprising a wide range of disciplines. From film, performance and drawing, to painting, ceramics and installation, it gives rising voices within the sector the opportunity to stand out and stand up. Review by Alexandra Gamrot
Amos Rex, Mannerheimintie 22–24, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
Massless, teamLab’s first exhibition in the Nordic countries of Europe, celebrates the transformation of Helsinki’s Amos Anderson Art Museum into Amos Rex by filling the majority of the institution’s newly minted subterranean home with a series of immersive, multimedia installations. Review by John Gayer
V&A Dundee, 1 Riverside Esplanade, Dundee DD1 4EZ
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The V&A Dundee is Scotland's impressive new design museum, illuminated by refracting light from the Firth of Tay, it is situated at the centre of what was once Dundee's maritime infrastructure and recently opened to the world's press as they were given the opportunity to explore the city's new £80m centrepiece. Review by Paul Black
