Exhibition of the Week
Turner prize
Is the prize that once had the nation arguing about winners like Rachel Whiteread and Damien Hirst still an important event? Last year was bad enough to revive arguments from some that it has had its day. Yet often when the Turner is in trouble, it suddenly produces a vintage year. This year’s shortlisted artists are Assemble, Bonnie Camplin, Janice Kerbel and Nicole Wermers – and it’s in Glasgow, home to so much of Britain’s best contemporary art.
- At Tramway, Glasgow, from 1 October until 17 January.
Other exhibitions this week
John Hoyland
The art collector Damien Hirst opens his new exhibition space by showing his paintings by this British abstract artist.
- At Newport Street Gallery, London, from 8 October until 3 April.
David Hockney: Early Drawings
Early drawings by this superb recorder of modern life – what’s not to like?
- At Offer Waterman, London, from 25 September until 23 October.
Agnes Martin
Last chance to experience the intensity of this great abstract artist.
- At Tate Modern, London, until 11 October.
Brent Wadden: How Long Is Now
Painting and weaving come together to create abstract geometries.
- At Pace Gallery, London, from 25 September until 31 October.
Masterpiece of the Week
Kester’s Throne of Weapons (2001)
This eerie chair made from AK47 rifles and other scary weapons of modern war has become one of the British Museum’s most famous treasures. It also appears to be the inspiration for the Iron Throne in HBO drama Game of Thrones, which is made from melted swords. Kester used guns decommissioned after the end of Mozambique’s civil war in 1992. It is a seat of hope as well as an enthroned memory of war.
- At the British Museum, London.
Image of the week
What we learned this week
That Zaha Hadid is the first woman to receive Riba’s Royal Gold Medal award in her own right …
… And cut short an interview linking her Qatar World Cup stadium design to migrant worker deaths
That most Guardian commenters wouldn’t pay £229 for a back-to-basics mobile phone
What people’s darkest fears would look like displayed on a train station advertising screen
That virtual reality may still be more exciting as a forward-thinking concept than actual experience
That Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron would have been 200 years old this year
All about the British Museum’s five-star Celts exhibition …
… And about Julian Cope’s take on the Celts show
That photographer Brock Elbank is obsessed with photographing freckles
That Edvard Munch and Vincent van Gogh make a formidable pair
What oddities are on offer at this year’s Frieze London art fair
About the Tate Modern’s planned Olympic-sized expansion next year
