Emma Bennett

Just opened, and well worth a look, A Distance Between brings together the work of MA Photography students from London and Paris. What makes this more than a postgraduate showcase is the thoughtful curatorial framing, with London students responding to a delicate social project initiated by their French counterparts. Details here.

MONDAY

At the ICA, tonight's talk promises to be a timely rumination on the recent resurgence of abstract painting. Although, as the blurb suggests, many of the artists working in this medium resist the word 'abstract' outright, preferring to highlight the indeterminate relations between the extra-figurative, the painterly and the readymade.

Three excellent London painters will discuss their work, and Bob Nicks, editor of Phaidon's forthcoming tome Painting Abstraction is in the chair.

TUESDAY

Jacek Wankowski's new show opens at The Coningsbury Gallery - and for the first time on these shores, the Australian artist's sculptures and paintings will be exhibited together. With "the dynamic flow and clash of ocean currents" as his inspiration, it'll be particularly interesting to view Wankowski's elegant steel sculptures in three dimensions. Details here. Private View 6.30-8.30pm.

Also, if you fancy a special after-hours snoop around Raven Row's fantastic show - Paolozzi at AMBIT - then tonight's your night. The gallery will be opening from six onwards to allow visitors a chance to spend time with the somewhat dizzying array of print material, prior to a gallery talk by co-curator David Brittain and Robin Spencer, Paolozzi's biographer.

WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY

And the week rolls on - getting perilously close to the month's end. So this is a good opportunity to catch those about-to-fold shows you missed in the Frieze whirlwind, before subjecting yourself to a little enlightening frightening come the Halloween- weekend.

Both ending this week: Rosalind Nashashibi - the winner of 2003's Becks Futures prize returns to the ICA with her complex and mesmirising films.

Walid Raad's deftly titled show at Anthony Reynolds gallery 'Scratching on things I could disavow: A history of art in the Arab world _ Part 1 _ Volume 1 _Chapter 1: Beirut (1995-2005)'. The Lebanese artist works with (what appear to be) documentary materials which chart (and invent) the troubled history of his native land. If you don't know his work, check out the website of his pseudonymical collective, The Atlas Group.

And finally, get your Halloween fright-quota with two spookily themed shows -

'Never Afraid', Sarah Sparkles' collection of disquieting pictorial works opens at Crimes Town on Saturday.

And 'Is There Anybody There?' continues at Wilson Williams in Hackney. This well-received group show takes inspiration from the turbulent history of the Victorian building in which it is housed.

A former crack den turned art gallery, WW has a history of dilapidation, violence and paranormal activity. This once rat-infested East London squat was razed to the ground, not once, but twice, as if in an effort to purge itself. Despite being resurrected as a des res in 2003, the new owners were disturbed by strange goings-on and had it 'ghost-busted' before its reincarnation as WW Gallery.

The trick or treating artists include Deutsche Bank and Saatchi collected Liane Lang, Jerwood Prize selected Annabel Tilley and Venice Biennale exhibited Eva Lis, Jarik Jongman, Lorraine Clarke, Stephanie Wehowski, Enzo Marra and Natasha Bird, plus special guests. Spooky indeed.