Exhibitionist: The week's art shows in pictures

Ben Rivers; David Thorpe; Heather & Ivan Morison, Wakefield In this inventive show of art that deals with 21st-century attitudes to the natural world, Heather & Ivan Morison work with soot and black bone pigment, David Thorpe with pre-industrial wood-turning and leather-cutting, while Ben Rivers films in Gunkanjima, an island off Nagasaki. Above, Ben Rivers, Slow Action, 2010. At The Hepworth until 10 June 2012 Photograph: Courtesy the artist and Kate Mcgarry, London Photograph: PR Chen Man, Manchester Chen Man, one of China's most famous and fashionable photographers, reveals a world of female allure that can be quite confounding to western attitudes. Age-old traditions are mixed with digital sci-fi themes; hints of religious ritual merge with almost fetishist fantasies. Above, Red Peach Blossom, 2008. At Chinese Arts Centre until 7 April 2012 Photograph: Dawei Photograph: Action images Elizabeth Price, Andrea Zittel, Gateshead The apocalyptic seems to be in the air these days as artists contemplate the unthinkable. Video artist Elizabeth Price faces up to dystopian and post-nuclear possibilities in a spirit of amazement, while installation sculptor Andrea Zittel makes utopian, eco-minimal sculptural households. Above, Zittel's Lay of My Land, 2011. At BALTIC until 20 May 2012 (Zittel) and 27 May 2012 (Price) Photograph: Christian Saltas Gillian Ayres, Bath The British artist, now in her 80s, is still going strong, as this show of 20 years' worth of works on paper demonstrates. It conjures an entrancing, semi-abstract world of brilliantly hued dancing diamonds, flowers and stars. Above, Shalimar 5, 2011. At Victoria Art Gallery until 21 March 2012 Photograph: PR Roger Ackling and Andrew Miller, Edinburgh Through subtle interferences, Roger Ackling and Andrew Miller make sculptural intrigues out of things most of us wouldn't look twice at. They recognise the aura of personal history any object can accrue as it gains its worn edges. Above, Roger Ackling's Voewood 2010. At Ingleby Gallery until 21 April (Ackling) and 10 March (Miller) 2012 Photograph: John McKenzie Picasso and Modern British Art, London This exhibition pairs 60 of Pablo Picasso's works with pieces by Brits inspired by him. The impact of his innovation is explored through art as diverse as Henry Moore's monumental modernism, Francis Bacon's twisted paintings of existential horror, and David Hockney's pop-sharp vision. Above, Pablo Picasso's Still Life with Mandolin, 1924. At Tate Britain , SW1, 15 February to 15 July 2012 Photograph: Hogers & Versluys/Collection Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam/Succession Picasso/DACS 2011 Photograph: Hogers & Versluys Sarah Lucas, London Few can match Sarah Lucas when it comes to dealing with the body in all its gutsy glory. Situation is a new temporary space for all things Lucas, which opens with her latest sculptures and earlier pieces. Inspired by travel, her work's new turns include mammary explosions in nylon. Above, Prière de Toucher, 2000. Situation at Sadie Coles , W1, 16 February to December 2012 Photograph: Sarah Lucas/Courtesy of Sadie Coles HQ, London Photograph: PR Song Dong: Waste Not, London The Chinese artist Song Dong's mother was a hoarder. Through the uncertainty of her country's social and political upheaval, she turned the Chinese maxim of 'waste not' into a mania. His installation Waste Not features every item she collected. Utterly riveting, it's both an archive of obsession and the story of changing Chinese society. Above, Waste Not (detail), 2005/2009, Installation at Museum of Modern Art, New York. At The Curve, Barbican Centre , EC2, 15 February to 12 June 2012 Photograph: Song Dong/Tokyo Gallery + BTAP/Courtesy Barbican Art Gallery Photograph: PR