Kennedy presents cultural quandaries, representing his own video pieces alongside works by artists as diverse as Kostas Sfikas and Walter Sickert, deliberately taken out of cultural context. Above, image from Trilogy, 2008. At Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), until 2 June 2012 Photograph: PR
Baker's ostensibly abstract paintings have always played on the push-and-pull of illusionistic space. Shimmering grids of colour have variously suggested the crumbling frescoed walls of her beloved Rome or the rusting hulls of the ships once built of her native Tyneside. Above, Corner Build 10, 2012. At Gallery North, from 23 April until 3 May 2012 Photograph: Helen Baker
Video artist Elizabeth Price is renowned for her sexy, sinister films. Her latest trilogy, Choir, begins with church architecture conjured through a montage of vintage photography, before journeying across 20th-century dancefloors, where a gang of girls bop to the Shangri-Las. At MOT International, W1, from 25 April until 26 May 2012 Photograph: PR
American maverick Paul Thek made his indelible mark on an art world in thrall to the purist aesthetics of minimalism with his early-60s Meat Pieces sculptures. This show includes the sketch-pad journals and collaborations with photographer Peter Hujar through which he built up his fascinating artistic persona. Above, Spreads from Thek's notebook No 34, 1972. At Modern Institute, until 2 June 2012 Photograph: Sheldan Collins
The 38 artists in this exhibition have all worked, in some way, with photography. The more traditional snappers include Katy Grannan, whose portraits of transvestites or glamorous geriatrics pursue alternative kinds of beauty, as do Pinar Yolaçan's surreal shots of people wearing clothes made from meat. Above, Pinar Yolaçan, Untitled, 2003. At Saatchi Gallery, SW3, from 25 April until 22 July 2012
Photograph: Saatchi Gallery, London
Myles's sculptural installations might be viewed as meticulously constructed evocations of obscure histories. His Displaced Facade (for DCA) recalls the derelict Dundee building, locally nicknamed The Factory, where the artist used to skate. The Factory went on to become the DCA, into which Myles now installs his brick-wall sculptural puzzle of perceptual intrigue. Above, Untitled (ELBA Black, Grey, Green), 2012. At Dundee Contemporary Arts, until 10 June 2012
Photograph: Courtesy the artist, The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd, Meyer Riegger, Berlin
Artist and animal rights activist Zhao Renhui's doctored, sci-fi-infused presentations of fantastical, exoticised and commodified nature speaks loudly to our troubled relationship with the animal kingdom. Above, Blind Long-tailed Owl, Desert Variant of Little Owl, 2011. At Chapter, from 27 April until 17 June 2012 Photograph: PR
Photographer and film-maker Alex Prager pairs close-ups of expressive eyes with long shots of surreal calamities: a boulder placed like a monument at a deathly bend in the road; a burning building alone in a field; a house drowning beneath the stars. Above, Eye #2 (Boulder), 2012. At Michael Hoppen Gallery, SW3, until 26 May 2012
Photograph: Alex Prager/Michael Hoppen Contemporary, London
