London art exhibitions calendar

Paul Maheke’s first major UK exhibition will look at these themes through the lens of power structures, magic and the cosmos. Maheke, whose work addresses western representations of black queerness, will pull these themes together using performance, video and sculpture.

Forget to water your pot plant for a few weeks and it's probably heading for horticultural heaven. Many of our leafy friends, however, are made of sturdier stuff. This exhibition of new paintings by Sarah Cain is inspired by the impressive hardiness of uncultivated plants, and the way they thrive in the very worst of environments.* *That's no excuse for you though. Go water that drooping peace lily now.

‘Selfish, pointless and fucking sad’ is how NME recorded fans as describing Joe Corré's ceremonial burning of a load of punk memorabilia in 2016. Love him or loathe him for such an act, the ashy remains of the firepit caused by the son of Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren are now going on display at the Lazinc gallery. Peering out from the charred pile will be a recreation of McLaren's Death Mask by sculpture Nick Reynolds.

New exhibition exploring quite possibly the most popular subject in the whole history of art: naked people.

Truly monumental moments in the history of art don’t come about all that often. But the invention of photography and the birth of abstract art were both ‘one of those moments’. Tate Modern not only agrees on the importance of these events, but argues that the two freely riffed off each other. Starting in 1910 and ending with a selection of contemporary images created for the exhibition, shared influences and ideas between photography and painting are easy to spot. Big names on the painters’ team include Bridget Riley, Georges Braque, Joan Miro and Jackson Pollock. And for the photographers we have Edward Weston, Aaron Siskin and the brilliant surrealist pioneer Man Ray.

In the 18th century, desperate mothers leaving their newborns in the care of London's Foundling Hospital would often tie an identifying strip of fabric to them. Artist Jodie Carey now uses this sad piece of history as the inspiration for an exhibition of new artworks. Hundreds of strips of fabric have been dipped in liquid clay and fired, creating a haunting memento to the children this historic institution looked after. 

'Let there be light!' said god and American artist Mary Corse heard him loud and clear. Corse's quest to capture the beauty and mystery of light saw her enroll on a quantum physics course to create her 1968 series 'Electric Light'. Let the light shine in with her first major UK solo show at Lisson Gallery. 

Stone, mud and flint all play a part in sculptor Richard Long's artworks. This new exhibition by a man continuously inspired by the natural world, showcases his obsession with circles. The bull's eye of the show is a large stone circle on the gallery floor. 

For over 60 years, photographer August Sander captured the many different faces - often quite literally - of Weimar Germany. The pictures in this exhibition demonstrate Sander's unique ability to make his sitters feel entirely at home in front of the camera and show the array of different lifestyles people had in pre-WWII Germany. 

'Aftermath' takes a look at the impact of WWI on art made in the UK, France and Germany. From the cabaret steeped hedonism of the Weimar Republic as captured by Otto Dix and George Grosz to the birth of Dada through Hannah Höch and André Masson this exhibition gathers together art that is rarely shown together. As well as art from Germany there will be work from artists working at the time in Europe such as Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger and Winifred Knights. 

An exhibition which compliments the National Gallery's Thomas Cole show, the elder statesman of Pop Art Ed Ruscha presents a vision of modern American landscape. Focusing on the idea of 'Modern Empire' via industrial buildings of downtown LA, the boxy utilitarianism of Ruscha's work is a sark contrast to the winsome romance of Cole's 19th century vision of rolling green fields and stately mountains. 

Paris, May 1968 and revolution is in the air. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of a seminal moment in modern European history, the Lazinc gallery is putting on display its own collection of posters designed by French protestors. Visitors can also view film clips, memorabilia and a recreation of the screen-printing room used to manufacture the images.

Although he was born in Bolton, 19th century painter Thomas Cole is a bit of an unknown figure to audiences outside of the US. In fact, this the first time many of his works have been seen beyond America. Like a yankee Turner, his dreamy landscapes of everywhere from Niagara Falls to New York's Catskill mountains show his adoptive home in a romantic light. 

Banu Cennetoğlu is a Turkish artist, based in Istanbul whose work looks at the distribution and consumption of information in modern life. Although news and fake news are things that affect us all living Cennetoğlu’s work is made against the backdrop of extreme art and news censorship under the current Turkish government.

Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s conceptual, politically focused work has been gaining momentum for some time. Hamdan, who makes his work between Beirut and Berlin tackles a range of issues, usually through installation. This show is attempting to break down how we get to the truth when overloaded with information and news via the internet.

Not only were the Avant-garde movements of the early 20th century a hotbed of creativity, they also inspired a number of intimate relationships - both erotic and platonic - between virtually everyone involved. Whilst featuring a low down on around 40 legendary pairings, from Surrealist photogs Lee Miller and Man Ray, to literary lovers Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, this exhibition picks apart what we actually mean by 'couple' in the first place.