The best bit is that the meticulously amplified elucidation is played into a vacuum, so that it can't be heard.This red wax cast (above) by Sarah Lucas moves from the abstract to gritty realism. However wonderful the world may be, sometimes you feel like bad- mouthing it.`Minky Manky', South London Gallery, Peckham Rd, SE5 (0171-703 6120) from 12 Apr to 14 May. Going nowhere fast CD-Rom is a wonderful thing. The full wax "Minky Manky" is the anti-titular title which curator Carl Freedman came up with to draw attention to this exploratory exhibition. The big names - Damien Hirst and Gilbert and George - will be distracting enough. In a departure from his death-dwelling carcass phase, Hirst is offering an aspirational piece, "And Still Pursung Impossible Desires".

He invites us as viewers to return to a state of grace, to re-adjust our view of the planet That is the principle To see how it works for yourself visit the show. Or you could try putting on an animal mask and looking in the mirror. Camden Arts Centre, Arkwright Road, NW3 (0171-435 2643) to 4 Jun Free admission. Vilmouth's talent lies in his ability to invest the mundane everyday object with forgotten or unsuspected quasi-magical properties. Most recently Vilmouth has installed a shoal of mechanised fish in the Waterloo terminal of Eurostar.

In a similar vein, an important part of the Camden show, is "Bar des Acariens" - a room installation in which the surfaces of caf tables reveal magnified photographs of dust- mites. The artist stares from the cover of the catalogue with his head enclosed in the plastic mask of an elephant head Such transformations are central to all Vilmouth's work. In the past he has achieved this by creating unexpected juxtapositions which bring the natural world back into the contemporary urban environment and vice versa. Notable projects include his creation of cafs which are in themselves art-objects, a spiral staircase installed around a palm tree, a wallpaper design which reproduces a photograph of a landscape and the re-directing of a busy Grenoble commuter train through the middle of an art exhibition. Altered states "Choose your animal, transform yourself," invites Jean-Luc Vilmouth in the catalogue for his show which opens at the Camden Arts Centre today For Vilmouth his animal is an elephant. The autobiography discovered at her/his death paints a fascinating portrait of sexual confusion and depair which has already inspired work by writers as diverse as Michel Foucault and Caryl Churchill. Benson's performance is unlikely to cause the same kind of noise as Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, but it looks like being a good deal less mannered. `Masculin/Masculine, Memories of an Hermaphrodite', Gate Theatre, W11 (0171-229 0706) from 11 Apr.