Another Minimalism, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh

ANOTHER MINIMALISM, FRUITMARKET GALLERY, EDINBURGH Laidback minimalism: the dazzling legacy of California Light and Space

Laidback minimalism: the dazzling legacy of California Light and Space

Minimalist sculpture has, for decades, been making gallery visitors self-conscious. How should you react to a metallic piece by Donald Judd which has evidently been machined rather than modelled? Can you really walk all over an arrangement of lead floor tiles by Carl Andre? And how do you look at a Robert Morris mirrored cube without seeing yourself gazing back?

10 Questions for Composer Ludovico Einaudi

10 QUESTIONS FOR COMPOSER LUDOVICO EINAUDI What are the elements that make up Einaudi's music?

What are the elements that make up Einaudi's music?

Last month, Ludovico Einaudi's album Elements debuted at No 12 on the UK album charts, which made it the highest-charting modern classical album since Henryk Górecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs reached No 6 in 1992. It was proof of the quietly burgeoning allure of Einaudi, which has been stealthily expanding around the world since his first solo release, 1988's Time Out.

Ai Weiwei, Royal Academy

AI WEIWEI, ROYAL ACADEMY The Chinese activist is more powerful as a symbol of dissidence than as an artist

The Chinese activist is more powerful as a symbol of dissidence than as an artist

Ai Weiwei’s first major survey in the UK is a better looking exhibition than I had anticipated, but what it gains in looks it sadly lacks in substance – backstory and information not being quite the same.

10 Questions for Composer Max Richter

10 QUESTIONS FOR COMPOSER MAX RICHTER Before the debut of his eight-hour piece, the composer, pianist and producer talked Sleep

With an eight-hour piece about to debut, the composer, pianist and producer talks Sleep

Composer, pianist, producer… Max Richter (b. 1966) is nothing if not prolific, not to mention unique. His traditional training, which included Edinburgh University, the Royal Academy as well as Florence, under composer Luciano Berio sits alongside a fascination with the otherwordly sounds of German electronica and American minimalism. As well as his solo work, which blends emotional depth and power with a refreshingly direct approach, he has collaborated on operas, ballets, theatre, film and television scores.

The Gap: Selected Abstract Art from Belgium, Parasol Unit

THE GAP: SELECTED ABSTRACT ART FROM BELGIUM, PARASOL UNIT Luc Tuymans brings an artist's eye to a survey of two generations of Belgian artists

Luc Tuymans brings an artist's eye to a survey of two generations of Belgian artists

From its title, you could be misled into dismissing this show as narrow and self-referential: a small exhibition in a small gallery curated by a Belgian artist concerned only with his own countrymen. In fact, it is something of a survey, featuring works with influences that range from Piet Mondrian, Ad Reinhardt and Lucio Fontana, to the Color Field painters.

Agnes Martin, Tate Modern

AGNES MARTIN, TATE MODERN Ravishing paintings perfectly poised between conceptual clarity and sensuousness

Ravishing paintings perfectly poised between conceptual clarity and sensuousness

It's impossible to overstate the reverence accorded the painter Agnes Martin by her fellow artists; in the panoply of American cultural goddesses, she is right up there with Emily Dickinson. Yet she is scarcely known in the wider world, partly because her work is relentlessly abstract, but also because she was deliberately evasive.

Dark Arteries, Rambert, Sadler's Wells

DARK ARTERIES, RAMBERT, SADLER'S WELLS Brass band the highlight of new triple bill

Brass band the highlight of new triple bill

After the disappointment of Wayne McGregor’s latest piece for the Royal Ballet, which opened on Monday, I thought last night’s trip to Sadler’s Wells for a new Rambert programme might cheer me up about the state of contemporary dance and composition. Two new pieces were on offer, by rising choreographer Alexander Whitley and Rambert director Mark Baldwin with original scores by Icelander Daniel Bjarnason and Brit Gavin Higgins respectively, alongside a revival of Lucinda Childs’s Four Elements, and there was no sign of the fawning hype that preceded the McGregor opening.

Exit

EXIT Hidden feelings discovered amid bleak naturalism in Taiwanese debut

Hidden feelings discovered amid bleak naturalism in Taiwanese debut

Taiwanese director Chienn Hsiang has given his lead actress Chen Shiang-chyi a role of rare complexity in Exit, and she dominates this bleakly naturalistic slice-of-life film completely. Chen’s character, Ling, is a seamstress approaching middle age, living an isolated, alienated life with rare distractions – hardly dramatic material in itself, you might think, but the film’s accretion of small everyday events, seemingly insignificant in themselves, comes together to capture a slowly compelling sense of character and milieu.

Jo Baer, Camden Arts Centre

JO BAER, CAMDEN ARTS CENTRE The Minimalist who rejected abstraction for figurative painting. Or did she?

The Minimalist who rejected abstraction for figurative painting. Or did she?

At 86, Jo Baer is still painting vigorously. In the mid 1960s, she was an established New York Minimalist along with artists like Carl Andre and Sol Lewitt; but while they continued to explore abstraction, she changed tack – dramatically, or so it seemed. In the mid 1970s, she turned toward figuration declaring that the “naivety” of Minimalism (its refusal to engage with events in the real world) no longer made it relevant. Yet she still thinks of herself as an abstract painter and this survey, which spans 55 years, allows us to guage what she means by the claim.