Leighton House Museum, London, 30 June – 2 October
On 1 July 1916, over 50,000 British soldiers lost their lives in one of the bloodiest battles in history. To mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, painter Hughie O’Donoghue RA has created seven large-scale canvases to denote the seven points at which German forces stopped the British army. The vibrantly coloured abstracted landscapes are painted at eye-level perspective, making it seem as though we are seeing the road from Guillemont to Ginchy and Flatiron copse through the collective eyes of the soldiers.

Richard Saltoun, London, 24 June – 22 July
The Conceptual Art movement came to fruition during the Sixties and Seventies, with a focus on the denial of the art object. For the second of its four-part study of Conceptual art in Britain, Richard Saltoun gallery looks back at the work of land artist Marie Yates. A movement dominated by men during its hey-day, Yates’ photographic and textual works address the inequality between the genders and address art as a force for social change. A highlight is the inclusion of Dorset Field Working (from Signals 1974 – 78) (1975), which presents 11 short paragraphs of text alongside a photograph of a wooded field, encouraging the viewer to create their own narrative thread.

Luxembourg & Dayan, London, 24 June – 20 August
Have you ever witnessed a dolphin swim through a brick wall? You might think you have after seeing Italian artist Pino Pascali’s ‘fake sculpture’, Coda di Delfino (1966) – a shaped canvas that gives the appearance of solidity. The work is accompanied by Maurizio Cattelan’s taxidermy horse, which hangs from the opposite gallery wall, while Franco Vimercati presents us with a photographic series that promotes the humble soup terrine into a monumental figure. The exhibition, curated by Francesco Bonami, plays on the theme of theatricality, challenging the viewer to create a rational connection between these surreal objects.

Oriel Davies, Newtown, 25 June – 29 August
Can craft also be art? Radical Craft, a touring exhibition co-curated by Birmingham collective ‘Craftspace’ and artists’ charity ‘Outside In’, addresses this question with its display of unconventional art pieces by 34 international and UK artists. Focus is firmly on the artworks, which have been crafted with great skill – Pradeep Kumar presents a sculpture of a woman clothed in blue that has been whittled from a single matchstick, while Angus McPhee’s ankle boots are woven entirely from grass. But each artist is also united in the physical and social obstacles they have combatted throughout their artistic careers. Kumar was born deaf and partially mute, while McPhee produced many of his works while a patient at Craig Dunain Psychiatric Hospital.

Whitworth Art Gallery, 25 – 26 June
Last year the Whitworth Art Gallery opened its doors to a new extension that engages the viewer with the gallery’s natural surroundings as much as the gallery space. Sculptor Anya Gallaccio has played on this outside/inside relationship with her immortalisation in metal of one of the park’s century old London Plane trees. The unveiling of the work is accompanied by a weekend long arts festival co-ordinated by local youth arts collective, Whitworth Young Contemporaries. Music and artistic performances will take place beneath the trees’ canopies with members of the youth group riding around with boomboxes on decorated bikes, celebrating an array of musical genres.

Rhiannon McGregor is an editorial intern at RA Magazine.