Houseago's monstrous sculptures and Cecil Beaton on war – the week in art

Exhibition of the week: Thomas Houseago We are a nation of crazed eccentrics, apple-crunching enthusiasts , the Olympic summer has apparently revealed. If so, we should take to the art of Thomas Houseago . Grotesque and bizarre, with a romantic sense of nature and a monstrous imagination, this sculptor creates forms that lodge uneasily in the unconscious. Max Ernst meets Sarah Lucas ? Arcimboldo meets a cement mixer? All I know is that I find his work genuinely memorable and am looking forward to this show. • Hauser and Wirth , London W1, 7 September until 27 October Other exhibitions this week Art of Change: New Directions from China This important exhibition surveys the revolution in China's art from the 1980s to today. • Hayward Gallery , London SE1, 7 September until 9 December Cecil Beaton: Theatre of War A photographer famous for his fashion images is revealed as a war artist . • Imperial War Museum , London SE1, 6 September until 1 January 2013 Alex Katz The elegant primitive of modern portraiture breezes into town. • Timothy Taylor Gallery , London W1, 5 September until 5 October Nathan Coley Conceptual art that wants to change the world. • Haunch of Venison , London W1, from 7 September until 8 October Masterpiece of the week Jacopo de' Barbari, Bird's Eye View of Venice (1500) This immense and magically detailed woodcut is a joy. You can peer down into the alleys and squares of Renaissance Venice. It even feels like you could glimpse inside windows and spy on people inside their houses. De' Barbari portrays the island city from a viewpoint that was then impossible – his bird's eye perspective is of course imaginary, for human flight did not yet exist. Leonardo da Vinci was giving flight a go and this map bears comparison with Leonardo's own works in its baffling genius . How did Jacopo de' Barabari do it? He must have surveyed the city extremely thoroughly over a long period before distilling the knowledge in this mesmerising heavenly panorama. • British Museum, London WC1. Currently on view in its exhibition Shakespeare: Staging the World until 25 November Image of the week What we learned this week That Damien Hirst pinched his ideas from Blue Peter That the pre-Raphaelites had as many hot potatoes as YBAs like Hirst What a favela cafe, a shrine full of QR codes and a corridor full of peep holes have in common Why the camera always lies That Tate Modern might take the turbine blade "gift" activists Liberate Tate installed in the Turbine Hall last month into the national art collection And finally … What's taking your fancy at the Paralympics? Get creating, then share your art about sport here Post your images to the Guardian Art and Design Flickr Check out our Tumblr And our Twitter