London's must-see exhibitions during Frieze week

Michael Craig-Martin, Royal Academy

Until 10 December

Since coming to prominence in the late 1960s, Michael Craig-Martin has created a body of work that fuses elements from pop, minimalism and conceptual art. This exhibition sees the Royal Academy’s Main Galleries filled with early experimental sculpture, landmark works and a dramatic site-specific installation. More

Now You See Us women artists in Britain 1520-1920, Tate Britain

Until 13 October

With artists such as Mary Beale, Angelica Kauffman, Elizabeth Butler and Laura Knight, this exhibition follows women on their journeys to becoming professional artists, from Tudor times to the First World War. It charts their work towards breaking boundaries and overcoming obstacles, working to capture what it meant to be a woman in the art world. More

Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers, National Gallery

Until 19 January 2025

Inspired by Vincent van Gogh's idiosyncratic terms for two sitters—lover and poet—this 60-work exhibition focuses on the fruitful final two years of the artist's life. More

The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-98, Barbican Art Gallery

Until 5 January 2025

In 1975 the Indian republic faced its first constitutional crisis. The following two decades saw immense turbulence as well as growth, and yet the cultural output of this period is much overlooked. The Barbican presents work by more than 30 Indian artists made during this period of social and economic upheaval. More

Francis Bacon: Human Presence, National Portrait Gallery

Until 9 January 2025

With more than 50 paintings organised chronologically and thematically, Francis Bacon: Human Presence charts the artist’s increasingly personal focus and how his relationships with friends and lovers coincided with key developments in his work. The gallery plans to make "a real splash" with this one. More

Mike Kelley: Ghost and Spirit, Tate Modern

Until 9 March 2025

Spanning Kelley’s career, this exhibition features his breakthrough 'craft' sculptures made from textile and plush toys, through to his multimedia installations. It revisits his experimental, anarchic and influential work which straddled drawing, collage, performance and video. More

I Am The Last Woman Object: Nicola L., Camden Art Centre

Until 29 December

I Am the Last Woman Object: Nicola L brings together paintings with sculpture, collage, films and performances from across six decades. Carrying an air of wit, playfulness, and radical subversion, this the first time the full breadth of the artist's practice has been shown in the UK. More

Silk Roads, British Museum

Until 23 February 2025

The Silk Roads were in use for millennia, but this show focuses on a defining period in their history, from about AD 500 to 1000. Curators say it is an attempt to “include the less tangible things that you can’t see and touch”. More

Haegue Yang: Leap Year, Southbank Centre

Until 5 Jan 2025

Haegue Yang’s wide-ranging inspiration draws on diverse histories and customs, including East Asian traditions and folklore, modernism, contemporary art history and nature. This major survey explores Yang’s work from the early 2000s to today, highlighting how her artworks resonate on a personal and sensory level. More

Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, The Call, Serpentine North

Until 2 February 2025

Herndon and Dryhurst have gone back to AI first principles with The Call, their debut solo show. Through a new set of songs recorded with choirs from around the UK, the artists explore questions of co-ownership and creativity under a specially devised “data trust” agreement. More

Congregation, St Mary le Strand church

Until 9 October

Congregation, which opens against a backdrop of ongoing debates surrounding migration across the UK, explores the plight of refugees. Devlin’s large-scale chalk and charcoal portraits, presented in rows as a “monumental projection-mapped tiered structure”, depict 50 Londoners from 28 countries who have experienced “forced displacement”. More

Lygia Clark: The I and the You, Whitechapel Gallery

Until 12 January 2025

This major exhibition charts the career of Lygia Clark, the Brazilian artist who, in the 1960s, dramatically recalibrated the relationship between artist and audience. Spanning the period from the mid 1950s to the early 1970s—some of the most repressive years of Brazil’s military dictatorship—the show places her works in dialogue with those of Sonia Boyce. More