1 Rachel Whiteread
The ghostly power of Whiteread’s casts is one of modern British art’s wonders. Her sculptures – preserving the shapes of lost objects – combine the authority of abstraction with the spookiness of Victorian photographs. Her work has a poetic intensity that has not diminished since she created her now-demolished public sculpture House in 1993. It is very possible her art will survive and be admired when so much else of our time is forgotten.
Tate Britain, SW1, 12 September to 21 January
2 Scythians: Warriors of Ancient Siberia
The ancient Roman poet Ovid annoyed the emperor Augustus so much with his erotic verses and other, unspecified crimes, that he was exiled to the Black Sea to live among the Scythians. These “barbarian” neighbours of ancient Rome excelled at fighting on horseback, were ruthless enough to destroy all their property to foil a Persian invasion and loved gold. Here, the treasures of the Scythians glisten again in an exhibition that should resurrect interest in a fascinating shadowland of history.
British Museum, WC1, 14 September to 14 January
3 Bruce Nauman
The art of Bruce Nauman is brutal and beautiful, a description he could surely fashion into one of his flashing neon anagrams. Deliberately crass language games pulse through this free exhibition of his work: “Run from Fear” becomes “Fun from Rear”. His videos are hilarious and terrifying in their absurdist verbal shufflings and implicit or explicit violence. An artist who shows the world as it is now, unfortunately.
Tate Modern, SE1, to 24 July
4 Folkestone Triennial
Fun by the seaside in an event that has become part of the British art calendar. Folkestone leads the way in the chain of contemporary art centres that line the south coast. This year’s lineup includes the venerable conceptual artist Michael Craig-Martin, rent-a-radical Bob and Roberta Smith, pessimistic humorist David Shrigley and the pioneering sculptor of found stuff Bill Woodrow.
Various venues to 5 November
5 Antony Gormley
The sculptor of stilled and silent bodies places his Cyberman-style statues in the sea off two south coast towns in an attempt to colonise yet more of the landscape for his humanist vision. It’s interesting that in a century so troubled by our impact on nature, some of the best-known artistic interventions in landscape stress the human figure.
Turner Contemporary, Margate; various venues, Folkestone, to 5 November
