Because although Walid Raad says it "was in some ways made possible by the wars in Lebanon", his Miraculous Beginnings exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery isn't yet another war dispatch from the frontlines, but a consideration of the effects wreaked upon art by war. Raad's first retrospective spans three decades of war from the 1980s in Lebanon, an undertaking that reveals Raad as two parts artist and one part historian of a country under nearly-constant siege for the better part of the last half century. My neck is thinner than a hair: Engines compiles 100 old photos of the leftover engines from car bombs, the only piece of the car left intact after a detonation. Already been in a lake of fire is a kind of scrapbook containing 145 cut-outs corresponding to the exact make of every kind of car used as a car bomb in Lebanon from 1975 - 1991, accompanied by casualty figures and other details of each bombing. For Let's be honest the weather helped, Raad photographed bullet-ridden Beirut streets in black and white, placing coloured dots over the bullet holes which correspond to the manufacturer and shell size of every bullet. "It took me 25 years to realize that my notebooks had all along catalogued the 23 countries that had armed or sold ammunitions to the various militias and armies fighting the Lebanese wars," says Raad. Interlacing photo portraits of women and airy seasides with mortar-filled streetscapes, Miraculous Beginnings is less about Beirut and more about a place that, once the bombs had dropped, was familiar and yet fundamentally changed at the same time. And in the same way a bullet-ripped building can never be the same again, so too with art - and perhaps artists - from a reality scarred by war.

Whitechapel Gallery, 15 October - 02 January

Because curator and serial-interviewer, Hans Ulrich Obrist has described his life-long interview project as a parallel reality; a "secret garden" of knowledge that has always informed and directed his curatorial work. So it follows that each year the serpentine gallery stage their 24-hour marathon event - an amplified dialogue between practitioners from a range of specialized fields - hosted and curated by Obrist, as a research platform for both participants and audience. This year, the "map marathon" will explore all forms of mapping in a complex digitised, interconnected society; from the mapping of data, space and time to multiple dimensions, language and the body, the marathon will present a comprehensive portrait of mapping in the 21 century. Technology will play a leading role this year, with speakers disseminating the long-term implications of digitised mapping: data visualisation, digital architectures and information-embedded, user-generated maps. Artist's Marina Abramović, Simon Fujiwara, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Gilbert & George are among a few to join software designer Casey Reas, EDGE founder John Brockman, poet-mathematician Jacques Roubaud and architect David Adjaye in what will be an information-driven, multi-disciplinary event.

Photographer Caroline Becker, and graffiti artist Simon Harrison have been working together since 2007 as artist duo BeckerHarrison. We ask them a few questions about the nature of their collaboration and their upcoming solo show, What a Difference a Day Makes:

What made you decide to combine graffiti and photography? Why not manipulate the images digitally?

A hallmark of our collaboration is a seamless blend of media. The reason that the images are painted rather than digitally altered is down to the fact that if you posses the craftsmanship and skill, almost anything that can be done digitally can be reproduced manually. That happens to be my speciality so it was logical to utilize it. Few people seem to paint like that these days. Bizarrely, it's almost going out of fashion. To combine painting with Carolin's photography makes the final pieces unique.

When you look at a BeckerHarrison you are seeing how two people relate and how two people can approach an image from completely different directions and achieve a common goal.

Instead of using the airbrush to perfect or conceal - as with the images in mass media - you use it to reveal something new. How do these realities emerge?

We use the media in a subtle, more feminine way and as a result there is a movement away from the obvious into an area that challenges your perception and forces you to suspend belief, almost to doubt what you see even as you are seeing it.

The location, subject and circumstances surrounding any particular image dictate the artistic response from us. Some projects have more rigid parameters than others. What a difference a Day Makes is a retrospective journey through the possible consequences of a political atrocity. The pictures were taken five hours before the bombings in the area where the bombings took place. The people were going about their daily business totally unaware of what was to come. As a result of this, the reality that emerged was a projection of the consequences we saw onto the peaceful images that were actually taken.

How do you choose your subject areas?

They emerge from our very different personalities. Caroline is more immediate. Her approach to photography is intuitive and spontaneous and that shows in her pictures. I tend to brood more, forming a darker visual undercurrent, providing the unseen element that was or will be present. These factors combine but are also heavily influenced by the location and subject of the photography and also by how we perceive and discuss the incidents being photographed. The subject matter emerges from our complete interaction together and the subject area, geographically or metaphorically, is all the product of that. It's a symbiotic relationship and the result is synergistic. All decisions for trips or projects emerge from that. We are, essentially, each other's artistic influence.

Images, courtesy of the artist: Indian Men in Black, Old Smoking Men, Running Boy with Outline, Lady Night Fire, Vague Cover.

What a Difference A Day Makes by BeckerHarrison.
5th-30th October
The Outsiders, 8 Greek Street, W1D 4DG