Seen any good paintings lately?

Until recently, Mark Wallinger was something of a slow-burning Young British Artist. A solo show at Tate Liverpool last year, the installation of his diminutive figure of Christ, Ecce Homo, in Trafalgar Square, plus an acclaimed show as Britain's representative at the Venice Biennale have put him firmly on the map. Now London has the chance to see an expanded version of the Venice show. Over the past 20 years, Wallinger has used almost every possible medium with subject matter ranging from the Royal Family to the homeless - typically, he plans further surprises for this exhibition.

Cornelia Parker, Breathless, opening 22 November at the new British Galleries, Victoria and Albert Museum, SW7 (020 7942 2000)

When Cornelia Parker blew up a wooden garden shed then suspended the debris around a light-bulb as Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View, she garnered international acclaim that led to her nomination for the 1997 Turner Prize. Now Parker's work will again fill an entire room when Tate Britain's new wing opens on 1 November, and her specially commissioned piece, Breathless, will be the only contemporary work to be shown in the V&A's new British Galleries. Breathless is a flattened brass band, suspended between floors so you can see both the shiny tops and the tarnished undersides of the instruments which Parker collected, then squashed using hydraulic force at Tower Bridge.

Mike Nelson, Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted, 30 September to 11 November, ICA, The Mall, SW1 (020 7930 3647)

Few Turner Prize nominees have only sold two works of art, but such has been the buzz surrounding 34-year-old Mike Nelson that he was among the Turner Prize judges' most obvious choices. His latest piece, The Deliverance and The Patience, was the surprise hit of this year's Venice Biennale. He camped in a former brewery for months to create a Pandora's box of seemingly endless rooms containing the flotsam and jetsam of human existence, such as abandoned drinks, games of cards, or bare bedrooms. His 15-room installation at Matt's Gallery, The Coral Reef, caused a similar stir last year. He's been ensconced at the ICA for the past several months creating his current installation throughout the galleries and public spaces. Using found objects to create densely layered scenarios which incorporate his preoccupations with sci-fi, B-movies and fiction, Nelson has transformed the ICA into one of his claustrophobia-inducing labyrinths.

Sam Taylor-Wood, Mute, 23 November 2001 to 12 January 2002, White Cube2, 48 Hoxton Square, N1 (020 7930 5373)

Sam Taylor-Wood showed at the Royal Academy's Sensation in 1997, and was nominated for the Turner Prize the following year. Now she's exhibiting her new body of work at her husband's gallery. Fittingly enough, one of her new films was shot while directing the video for Elton John's new single, 'I Want Love': it shows Taylor-Wood staggering under Robert Downey Jr's bodyweight, like Mary holding Christ. Another new piece shows a bowl of fruit, the film accelerated to show the flesh rotting and decaying over several days. Like the private lives of the celebrities whom Taylor-Wood sometimes uses in her work, her personal struggle with cancer has become public knowledge, and inevitably affects our interpretation of her work.

Tate Britain Centenary Development, opens 1 November, Millbank, SW1 (020 7887 8000)

For the past year, Tate Britain has been perceived as poor relation to its glamorous new sister, Tate Modern. Next month, Tate Britain unveils its Centenary Development which expands display space by 35 per cent and heralds a return to a chronological instead of thematic hang. Highlights include a room devoted to contemporary photography with images from Turner Prize-winner Gillian Wearing's series, Signs that Say What You Want Them to Say, photographs of passers-by holding placards inscribed with their thoughts and feelings. Gilbert & George have a room of their own showing some of their earlier work, such as a louche video of their descent into drunkenness, Gordons Makes Us Drunk. There's also more traditional stuff: one display is dedicated to figurative painting since the Seventies, and the new wing's opening exhibition is devoted to the Victorian nude (Exposed: the Victorian Nude, 1 November 2001 to 27 January 2002). With the Turner Prize 2001 exhibition opening on 7 November (until 20 January 2002), this winter sees Tate Britain firmly back in the limelight.

Radical Fashion, 18 October 2001 to 6 January 2002, V&A, SW7 (020 7942 2000)

Radical Fashion at the V&A showcases the spectacular and avant-garde through fashion design (such as Watanabe, right), which moves ever closer to the realm of contemporary art. Designers including Yamamoto, McQueen and Chalayan create their own installations through moving images and sound to express their vision.