Rehearsal after Reflect Soft Matte Discourse, Episode 2: A Special Form of Darkness, Tramway, Glasgow

A Special Form of Darkness at Tramway is an open, convivial music/ performance/ ideas hybrid – a cross between a festival, magazine and discussion.

Jeremy Deller: Joy in People, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, London

You wouldn’t be to blame if you assumed the banner above the Hayward were a David Shrigley piece. It has the immediacy of his work, and none of the seriousness that represents Jeremy Deller.

Wind the Bobbin Up, Cotton: Global Threads, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester

Cotton. You’re probably wearing it now. You probably sleep on it every night. The sheer abundance of this material all around us means it usually remains ignored and under-appreciated.

Celebrating Short Film, Short & Sweet, Roxy Bar & Screen, London

Short & Sweet is a travelling short-film series: an international community of film lovers who father for lively events of short films and socialising. This winter Short & Sweet returns to London.

Canary Wharf Screen, Art on the Underground, Season 1 Film and Video Umbrella

Canary Wharf Screen is a motion picture screening programme that will launch at Canary Wharf Tube station at the beginning of next month. The project has been initiated by Art on the Underground.

Conflations of Form, Lynda Benglis, Thomas Dane Gallery, London

Lynda Benglis’ name has taken on mythical connotations in the art world. Her photographic spread in Artforum sparked controversy at the time, and has been awarded verbal accolades by artists.

Ménage à trois: Warhol, Basquiat, Clemente, Art & Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany

Campbell’s soup cans, exclamation marks, kissing couples. Warhol, Basquiat, Clemente. The works of three legendary artists are currently being displayed at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn.

Installation: Five Truths, Howard Assembly Rooms, Opera North

Mitchell’s installation arrived in Leeds on 14 February, and just as the carousel in the city’s Valentine’s Fair carries happy lovers of all ages, Mitchell reminds us of an obverse mental maelstrom.

Whose Film Is It Anyway?, Japanese Contemporary Auteurs in The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme

The Japan Foundation has hosted an annual touring film programme since 2004. This year, between 10 February – 28 March, a set of 9 contemporary Japanese films will tour seven UK cities.

Disembodied Voices, Nalini Malani: Mother India, Art Gallery of New South Wales

When Nalini Malani was invited to create a large-scale new media installation for presentation in India Contemporary at the Venice Biennale, her response was the enigmatic video play Mother India.

A Return to Making-Strange? Opens Tomorrow, Interplanetary Revolution, Golden Thread Gallery

The opening of Interplanetary Revolution may feature a cocktail bar, a chorus of ice cream vans, the introduction of another currency and a song by The Factotum Choir that they never quite cracked.

Observations of Modern Life, Ridley Howard: Slows, Leo Koenig Inc., New York

Slows is an exhibition of paintings by the Brooklyn artist, Ridley Howard. Howard’s second show at Leo Koenig Inc. marks both a new direction in his artwork and a continued exploration of his typical style.

A World of Shifting Certainty, The Family in British Art, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield

The family is unique as a social institution: it functions largely in private, while at the same time has a public character; it may be defined one way for political purposes, yet assume any number of forms.

Contemporary Sound Art, Haroon Mirza: /|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|, Spike Island, Bristol

In his first UK solo exhibition, Silver Lion Award winner of last year’s Venice Biennale, Haroon Mirza unfolds the map of an uncharted soundscape at once inviting and forbidding.

Embracing the Alternative Canvas, In Numbers: Serial Publications since 1955, ICA

In Numbers does not claim to be an exhaustive survey of serial publications since 1955, but aims to provide the contours of the genre.

The Passage of Materials, Steve Claydon: Culpable Earth, firstsite, Colchester

Colchester is known as being the oldest documented town in the UK. A visit to this city is likely to include a tour of the castle, a pint in a pub and a building showcasing cutting edge contemporary art.

Simultaneous Shock; Awe, Dana Schutz: If The Face Had Wheels, Miami Art Museum

Dana Schutz has developed a distinctive visual style characterised by vibrant colour and raw and tactile brushwork. If the Face Had Wheels is a survey of the artist’s work, spanning 2001 – 2011.

Interview with Julia Vogl: Winner of the Creative Works Competition

We speak with the winner of the 2011 Creative Works Competition, Julia Vogl, an installation artist whose public artwork challenges the role of the artist and art in relation to political events.

Jean-Marc Bustamante, Peintures Carrées (Square Paintings), Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris

Peintures Carrées is an exhibition of works on square, screen-reprinted Plexiglas by artist Jean-Marc Bustamante. The artist incorporates design and architectural space into his work.

Visual Games, David Evans’ Critical Dictionary, WORK Gallery, London

The show’s title puts in mind an idea of declassification and redefinition. It is borrowed from Bataille, whose Critical Dictionary was printed as a section of his surrealist journal Documents.

Palm Trees and Poker Players, James Hockey; Foyer Galleries, University for the Creative Arts (UCA), Farnham

Helen Carmel Benigson is media-savy that is for sure; her work layers colour, print and sound to create immersive, dreamlike and hyper-sensual installations that explore themes of female empowerment.

The Familiar and the Exotic, Last Chance to See, Diane Arbus, Jeu de Paume, Paris

Diane Arbus revolutionised the art she practised. Her bold subject matter and photographic approach produced a body of work that is shocking in its purity, in its steadfast celebration of things as they are.

Coggles Street Style Film: Part II

Aesthetica has featured Coggles’ new campaign, Street Styles Series, which aims to promote the brand’s primary mission of including personality into their designs for people not models.

Turner and the Elements & Hamish Fulton: Walk, Turner Contemporary

The seaside town of Margate boasts Turner Contemporary, a gallery that celebrates JMW Turner, who made Margate his home for a number of years, and international artists from abroad.

Shilpa Gupta

Gupta uses interactive video, websites, objects, photographs, sound and public performances to probe themes such as desire, religion, security on the street and on the imagined border.

The Front Line

Set during the Korean War and based around the final and decisive moments between North and South, the battle rages in the Aerok Hills.

The Guard

Following hard-bitten Police Sergeant Gerry Boyle as he closes in on a group of drug smugglers, The Guard’s action takes place on the west coast of Ireland.

Urbanized

As the third instalment in Gary Hustwit’s trilogy on the impact and function of design in the modern world, Urbanized is a concise exploration of the urban habitat of the Homo sapien.

Tyrannosaur

Paddy Considine’s directorial debut about two lonely, damaged people brought together by circumstance is a powerful drama about violence and loss.

Weekend

When Russell heads out to a nightclub, he picks up Glen, and after a brief encounter, the pair experience an intense relationship that lasts only for 48 hours.

The Burma Conspiracy

Beginning with a car chase, the film is packed to the brim with action shots and gunfire. It’s more than your standard action film though, with a gripping story and some stunning cinematography.

Diagrams

Black Light is singer-songwriter Sam Genders’ first album as Diagrams, dubbed a “solo project of sorts” but also one embracing the numerous collaborations.

Team Me

Team Me might just be the happiest band we’ve ever come across. Actually, happy isn’t the right word. This Scandinavian six-piece is joyous, jubilant, flamboyant.

Flash Fiktion

If you’re feeling the winter blues and need a musical pick-me-up, this sparkling debut from London-based trio Flash Fiktion will propel you towards spring with new gusto.

The Raven’s Empire

Here are some facts about David Bramwell. He runs a Victorian freakshow. He runs a folk club night. He “recently presented a radio program for BBC3” and also hosts a Wickerman tribute show.

Breton

Throughout his adult life, what interested the band’s namesake, André Breton, was less an author’s work per se than the human attitude behind it.

Ana Silvera

The Aviary is multi-instrumentalist and singer Ana Silvera’s debut album. A talented and diverse musician, Ana imbues the album with drama.

Graphic Design A History

Now in its second edition, Graphic Design A History is a weighty compendium that charts the history of graphic design from the 19th century to the present day.

David Shrigley: Brain Activity

Filled with a generous selection of works across a variety of disciplines, David Shrigley: Brain Activity highlights the artist’s ability to cross boundaries.

How 30 Great Ads Were Made: From Idea to Campaign

This fascinating book takes you behind the scenes of some of the best advertising campaigns from the last decade.

Gary Hume: Flashback

This book accompanies the third exhibition in the Flashback series, in which early acquisitions from key international artists are juxtaposed with newer works from British collections.

Critical Dictionary

This book is the incarnation of the group show at WORK gallery, which presents a whopping 24 artists from Simon Faithfull, and Paola Di Bello to Sophy Rickett and Simon Cunningham.

Alighiero Boetti: Game Plan

Boetti was one of the most innovative artists of the 20th century and a key member of the Arte Povera group.

A Question of Exposure

Tina Chang creates images that transcend their component parts to create a world where fantasy and desire dominate.

Documenting Quiet Spaces

American photographer, Bryan Schutmaat, is concerned with nostalgia and its representation within the context of the landscape of the American west.

Reality in Context

In his series, Fake Holidays, Reiner Riedler traverses the boundaries of place by examining reality within the context of the staged and created.

The Language of Political Dissent, Lis Rhodes: Dissonance and Disturbance, ICA, London

“Touching stories picked from a wound. Positive angles wrenched from their sockets,” reads a pair of lines from Running Light: a text that accompanies Lis Rhodes’ exhibition of the same name.

Maximum Identity Flux

A major Cindy Sherman retrospective opens at MoMA, probing gender and identity politics from all angles. The artist is in front of and behind the lens.

The Story of British Design

The first comprehensive exhibition to examine how UK artists and designers have produced acclaimed works, from post-war to the present day.

Political & Aesthetic Urgency

Showcasing over 150 works, this major exhibition examines the diversity and complexity of art produced during the tumultuous 1980s, a transformative time for culture and society.