1 Constellations
This accessible, stimulating show focuses on groups of works linked by chains of influence and inspiration, such as a history of British and American pop art showing the artistic roots shared by Claes Oldenburg, Richard Hamilton and Peter Blake. Word clouds on the walls illuminate a galaxy of modern art history from Marcel Duchamp to Rachel Whiteread, Michelangelo Pistoletto to Gillian Wearing.
2 Fire! Fire!
Few events mark the birth of the modern world as dramatically as the Great Fire of London in 1666. Before the blaze, the capital was a medieval city of half-timbered houses riddled with pestilence. Afterwards, it was rebuilt with baroque churches and the optimistic dome of St Paul’s, the geometric design of which epitomised the new scientific spirit of the Royal Society. Plague vanished and the new city boomed. This family-friendly exhibition uses works of art as well as interactives to light up London’s phoenix age.
Museum Of London, EC2, to 17 Apr
3 Punk 1976-78
Can you put the punk revolution in an archive? Can you force anarchy under glass? Actually it turns out you can. Punk, much like the art movements to which it is closely related – from futurism to Fluxus – generated huge amounts of paper. Fanzines and flyers preserve the harsh photocopied aesthetic of youth culture’s finest hour, while rough-cut collaged album covers and grotty handouts reflect a nation seemingly in revolt.
British Library, NW1, to 2 Oct
4 The Camera Exposed
As more and more of us take pictures on our phones, the camera as a totem of the modern world is fading from view. In this exhibition, the instrument of traditional photography comes forward to reveal its glamour and beauty. Every picture here features the camera as a protagonist, from Philippe Halsman’s photograph of Rita Hayworth under its hungry gaze to Richard Sadler’s portrait of Weegee with his eye to his camera and a cigar between his lips.
Victoria & Albert Museum, SW7, to 5 Mar
5 Unseen: London, Paris, New York, 1930s-60s
Three great cities of the modern world as documented by three photographers: Wolfgang Suschitzky, Dorothy Bohm and Neil Libbert. Their respective outsider visions of London, Paris and New York are monochrome memory palaces of shadow and surprise, and ghosts of a modern world gone by, for none of these cities is the same place it was in the mid-20th century.
