The Director of Cultural Partnerships at King's College London reflects on the growing appetite among artists and arts organisations for evidence about the impact and value of what they do  

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The BBC’s self-parodying show goes too far – in the direction of complacency, complicity and all-round smugness. But comedy can be a remarkable force for exposing the flaws of the society from which it springs  

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Driven by ubiquitous video technology, a new wave of films – such as the award-winning ‘Gaza: Chronicles of a Conflict’ – favours rawness and immediacy over explanation and context  

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Art and Mammon are uneasy bedfellows: witness the recent furore over the Sydney Biennale. The solution, says the FT’s arts writer, is for institutions to embrace debates over their funding, not run from them  

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Tate Britain’s new show explores our fascination with ruins. But where yesterday’s aficionados looked to the remains of ancient civilisations, today’s ruinous visions are of the future  

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A militarist matchbox, a spoof banknote, a Lennon album. . . the FT’s arts writer presents a very personal history of the past half-century in 10 objects  

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Matthew McConaughey’s career revival provides a neat case study of how an actor can wrest back control of his image. It also tells a broader story about our weakness for a certain kind of Acting.  

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Forget Sartre. The Royal Opera’s new ‘Don Giovanni’ suggests that, in a hyper-connected world, hell is the absence of other people  

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The death of the veteran folk singer prompted numerous tributes to his integrity and idealism. But it was his mythical spat with Bob Dylan that really defined his era’s cultural politics  

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As King’s College, London, devotes an exhibition to its charismatic alumnus, the FT’s arts writer reflects on the artist and film-maker’s earliest inspirations  

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Christian Bale’s hairpiece in the Oscar-nominated movie caper epitomises the preposterousness of the 1970s – but the decade’s unabashed lack of polish looks increasingly appealing in our technology-dependent age  

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Businesses like buying contemporary art to show off their forward-thinking and investment savvy. Fair enough – but it still sits oddly with artists’ desire to provoke and subvert  

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In a persuasive new book, the trend forecaster James Wallman says that our appetite for material possessions is giving way to a hunger for experiences. How will that shift be reflected in the arts?  

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As Miami’s sparkling new Perez Art Museum hosts a big retrospective of the Chinese artist’s work, the FT’s arts writer reflects on culture’s role in challenging oppression  

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An exhibition of Soviet-era sporting paintings shows how, even in a repressive political climate, artists still made work with real human insight  

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Author Mohsin Hamid reads his short story 'Alien invasion in the G.L.A.C.', commissioned by the Financial Times for the new year.  

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The FT’s arts writer finds that, for all the acquisitive buzz around art fairs, they still richly cater for people’s inquisitive side too  

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Efforts to restore historic buildings to their original splendour tell us as much about today’s tastes as they do about yesterday’s  

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The French conceptualist’s exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo is a sense-scrambling rethink of the relationship between art and the environment in which it appears  

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They seem always to be on, but ‘Rules of Engagement’, ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and their ilk shouldn’t be taken for granted: these immaculately crafted, relentlessly inoffensive series open a window on American society  

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A concert sponsored by insurance company Direct Line aims to help time-challenged audiences snatch some shut-eye – but a wakeful FT arts writer finds that the relationship between art and sleep is not a straightforward one  

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The market for Orthodox icons has been revivified by Russian money in recent years – yet the genre’s spiritual charge and innate conservatism make it a challenging field for collectors  

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Neglected in his lifetime, the singer-songwriter is now revered, as an event devoted to his album ‘Bryter Later’ demonstrates. But it’s doubtful his genius would have flourished any better in today’s impatient world, the FT’s arts writer says  

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A new film portrait of the Italian director reveals a man unafraid to confront difficult questions. It’s a kind of artistic responsibility that now feels old-fashioned, the FT’s arts writer says  

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The Futurists’ fervent belief in progress heralded disaster; now we worry about what the future will bring. But the FT’s arts writer finds grounds for optimism – and an unexpectedly hippy vibe – at a London ideas festival  

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A forthcoming season on Channel 4 aims to demystify our sexual behaviour – to be ‘open’ and ‘honest’ about a 'normal part of all our lives'. Good luck with that, says the FT’s arts writer  

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Spicing up traditional settings with a dash of contemporary style has become a cultural commonplace. But let’s not pretend it’s anything more than an aesthetic compromise, the FT’s arts writer says  

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Culture is becoming a refuge for the digitally brutalised: an evening at the opera, or cinema, or theatre, is where we go to escape technological overload, the FT’s arts writer argues  

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Citing pressure of visitor numbers, the museum banned sketching at its recent “David Bowie Is” exhibition – a move that shows how hard it is for curators to reconcile accessibility and academic values, the FT’s arts writer says  

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“Those who live to please, must please to live.” But these days it’s often our privilege to watch the performers having a good time  

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It’s loud, insistent, adolescent and playing now at a Mediterranean resort near you. And as the FT’s arts writer finds, there’s no way you’ll ever get the volume turned down  

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Thomas Hirschhorn’s South Bronx installation brilliantly embodies the belief that art should be part of everyday life  

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The sheer scale of suffering in the 1914-18 conflict is hard to grasp. As preparations begin for the centenary commemoration, the FT’s arts editor argues that culture has a vital role to play  

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Omnicom/Publicis, Penguin/Random House – the cultural landscape is dominated by ever fewer, ever bigger businesses. Yet artists and audiences alike are finding benefits in shunning their embrace  

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The late pop singer, whose work has just gone on show at London’s Royal College of Art, was a far more nuanced figure than his punk image would suggest, argues the FT’s arts writer  

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Braving Daleks and Cybermen at the Royal Albert Hall, the FT’s arts writer reflects on the unlikely synergy between classical music and a children’s sci-fi series  

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London’s Jewish Museum may seem an odd venue for an exhibition about the late pop diva. But the show is not so much a celebrity portrait as a way for a family to reclaim its daughter, says the FT’s assistant arts editor  

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The Nevada resort, a byword for pleasure-seeking in the here and now, is starting to take its history seriously, says the FT’s arts writer  

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Visa problems and nervousness on the part of potential sponsors have made life hard for London’s festival of contemporary Arab culture. But as the Arab Spring gives way to harsher realities, such forums are needed more than ever, says the FT’s arts writer  

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Countries are vying to project their worth through art, sport and broadcasting. But ‘soft power’ is not always easy to control, says the FT’s arts writer  

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Where there is a public clamour for explanation, writers and artists should be unafraid to step in, says the FT's arts writer  

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The thought of French purists fretting over ‘les snackbars’ has long-tickled English-speakers  

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Pre-first world war Vienna has some curious parallels with Spain today  

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The praise lavished on football’s retiring greats has been wildly overblown, says the FT’s arts writer. Other cultural pursuits are far worthier of grown-ups’ attention  

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As Margate’s Turner Contemporary gallery celebrates curiosity, the FT’s arts writer does his best to concentrate on the mind’s ability to wander  

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Europe’s film-makers want protection from the might of Hollywood. That’s understandable, argues the FT’s arts writer, but also wrong-headed: the two traditions are deeply intertwined  

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As a new documentary profiles the soft rock megastars, the FT’s arts writer reflects on their dramatic fall from grace – and their enduring appeal  

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Doha’s aspiration to become a global centre for culture is admirable – its squeamishness over ancient Greek sculptures less so, says the FT’s arts writer  

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Artists responded vigorously to the confrontational politics of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership – but the vivid creativity of the time had its roots in an earlier era, argues the FT’s arts editor  

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As performance artist Marina Abramovic showed, the paradox of our digital age is our hunger for personal presence, says the FT's arts editor  

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