The Pakistani artist's video The Distance from Here brings hints of the existential alienation of Kafka and Beckett up to date in our global village of international uncertainties and distrust. Abidi's first UK solo show couldn't seem timelier. At BALTIC until 12 February 2012
Photograph: Courtesy of the artist and Green Cardamom
In a homecoming show titled I Woz Ere, the Turner prize-shortlisted artist returns to the home city he has immortalised in paintings of deceptive banality (such as Scenes from the Passion Bus Stop at the Top, 2003, pictured). The show also catalogues his generous and self-effacing post-punk humour in a fascinating display of Shaw juvenilia. At Herbert Art Gallery until 11 March 2012 Photograph: George Shaw
Photography is the jumping-off point for two Swedish artists' quite different approaches to memory. Cecilia Edefalk's paintings examine repetitions and fading: in the process of painting and repainting an image of a Venus statue, the contours erode until all that's left are abstract planes and shadows. The younger Gunnel Wåhlstrand presents black-and-white paintings of photos from her dead father's family album, re-creations of a life unknown to her and forever beyond her reach. At Parasol Unit, N1, until 12 February 2012 Photograph: PR
Fornieles channels the American frat movie in bright, brash works such as Animal House 2: Revenge of the Nerdz (pictured). In this new exhibition, titled The Hangover Part II, the young artist's studies of his generation's embrace of cut-and-paste identities include a Facebook soap, Dorm Daze, in which he invites his British friends to masquerade as American college students under his direction. At Carlos/Ishikawa, E1, until 17 December 2011
Photograph: Courtesy the artist and Carlos/Ishikawa
The Los Angeles-based artist subjects strips of celluloid to everything from pepper spray to perfume, Jack Daniel's to body glitter. This latest show has a heavy metal theme, with four new video works on display, including Heavy Metal Sharks Calming Films, in which she smears old Super 8 copies of scenes from Jaws with heavy-metal-enriched black dye that is physically applied to the celluloid by someone literally headbanging it on. At Vilma Gold, E2, until 8 January 2012 Photograph: PR
This show of landscapes and portraits from the 1920s to the 50s is sure to add to the growing recognition of LS Lowry as a highly sophisticated English expressionist. The best paintings here (such as The Head of a Man, 1938, pictured) are meticulously constructed, adapting the atmospheric painterliness of the French impressionists to the dank industrial terraces of north-west England. At the Djanogly Gallery, Lakeside Arts Centre, until 5 February 2012 Photograph: PR
Smith approaches art-making like a spy, secretly and silently working within out-of-bounds buildings to make art that might never actually be seen. He has created drawings in derelict houses condemned to demolition, and once carved a giant, intricate drawing of a classical column into a wall at the British Museum. This show presents a broad selection of his projects plus the premiere of Caracol (pictured), a video work featuring a choir performing at various sites in Caracas, Venezuela. At John Hansard Gallery, until 21 January 2012 Photograph: Lisa Blackmore
Beloff has a penchant for spooked scenarios and ghosts in the machine: she says she is interested in the "dream life" or "psychological underpinnings" of technology. Here, an old 16mm Mutt and Jeff cartoon fades into a 1950s time-motion industrial documentary, a case study of contagious paranoia, and an absurdist performance by Kate Valk of the Wooster Group. At Site Gallery until 21 January 2012 Photograph: PR
