Rachel Whiteread and the decaying streets of Palermo – the week in art

One to watch … Rachel Whiteread’s Detached, at the Gagosian Gallery in London. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

This article titled “Rachel Whiteread and the decaying streets of Palermo – the week in art” was written by Jonathan Jones, for theguardian.com on Friday 19th April 2013 10.23 UTC

Exhibition of the week: Rachel Whiteread

A truly important modern artist shows new works that continue her haunting meditation on the visible surfaces and hidden interiors of the world.
• Gagosian Gallery, London WC1X, until 25 May

Other exhibitions this week

John Riddy
The richly decaying, tumultuous streets of Palermo in Sicily star in Riddy’s new photographs.
• Frith Street Gallery, London W1F, until 1 June

Deutsche Börse Photography prize 2013
Mishka Henner, Cristina de Middel, Chris Killip, and Broomberg and Chanarin are the artists shortlisted for this year’s prestigious photo award.
• Photographers’ Gallery, London W1F, until 30 June

Stephen Willats
This seminal figure in British conceptual art has worked with Oxford communities to create art about communication and – as we said back in the day – signification.
• Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, from 27 April until 16 June

Space oddity … Untitled, from Cristina De Middel’s series The Afronauts (2011). Photograph: Cristina De Middel

Fiona Rae
Inventive, playful paintings that evoke the complexity as well as energy of modern life.
• Towner, Eastbourne, from 27 April until 23 June

Masterpiece of the week

Transcendental meditation … Pieter Saenredam’s The Interior of the Grote Kerk at Haarlem. Photograph: Alamy

Pieter Saenredam – The Interior of the Grote Kerk at Haarlem (1636-37)
A church is eerily seen as an empty space, its gothic columns like abstract sculptures. This powerful artist obsessed with the shape of buildings is the Rachel Whiteread of the 17th century.
• National Gallery, London WC2N