THE FIVE BEST EXHIBITIONS

Turks (Royal Academy, London)

Culturama of Ottoman artefacts and objects, from AD600 to 1600, tracing developments in textiles, metalwork, ceramic, script. (020-7300 8000) to 12 Apr

Faces in a Crowd (Whitechapel Gallery, London)

A pocket history of figurative art and the modern city, in paintings (Manet, Hopper) and photos (Capa, Gursky). (020-7522 7888) to 27 Feb

Phyllida Barlow (Bloomberg Space, London)

Crushed, taped, wodged, painted, jammed, spattered work by the UK sculptor of mixed-media pieces. (020-7330 7283) to 5 Mar

ZBob and Roberta Smith

(Baltic, Gateshead)

"Help Build the Ruins of Democracy": new work by the artist, using sculpture, social narrative and text. (0191-478 1810) to 3 Apr

Anthony Caro (Tate Britain, London)

The British artist's walk-through, clamber-up architectural sculptures fill the central gallery. (020-7887 8000) to 17 Apr

AND ONE TO AVOID...

Francois Boucher (Wallace Collection, London)

We're not seduced by the 18th-century French painter's erotic-decorative world of frothy and flouncy romps.