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

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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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“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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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In the 1980s and 1990s cinema audiences were in thrall to powerful women in erotic thrillers such as Body Heat and Basic Instinct. But whatever became of the genre and is it ripe for a comeback?  

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A brush with institutional hauteur in Nice makes the FT’s arts writer long for the determinedly inclusive museums and galleries of the UK  

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As St Paul’s Cathedral prepares to unveil a Bill Viola installation, the FT’s arts writer considers the potentially enriching relationship between sacred settings and contemporary art  

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Though shortlisted for the prestigious photography award, Nigeria’s Abraham Oghobase has been refused a visa by the UK government. That’s a sorry state of affairs for a country that professes to be in the vanguard of cultural openness, says the FT’s arts writer. This week’s column is read by Alexander Gilmour.  

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A developing theme in new music sees artists navigating the fine line between criticism and complicity - and revelling in the contradictions.  

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The UK’s culture secretary is a ‘Star Trek’ fan who wants the arts to be ‘accessible to everyone’ - while the filmmakers of the defiantly highbrow ‘Life May Be’ remind us that there are merits in other ambitions.  

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When David Cameron presented Li Keqiang with a ‘Downton Abbey’ shooting script recently, the gesture was fraught with subtext. But what should a post-imperial premier give to his rising-power counterpart? Peter Aspden has some suggestions. . .  

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As the Imperial War Museum unveils a £40 million refurbishment, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney reflects on the ubiquity of violence in popular culture.  

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Peter Aspden visits the V&A’s ‘Disobedient Objects’ exhibition and reflects on the art of protest in the age of rapid digital dissemination.  

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The FT’s arts writer meets one of street art’s biggest names and reflects on what is lost when underground culture becomes part of the commercial mainstream  

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Dolly Parton, Judi Dench, Louise Bourgeois. . . in recent years, women in all branches of the arts have enjoyed major career successes in their 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond. But what’s behind this phenomenon? The FT’s arts editor has some suggestions.  

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Film screenings are becoming ever more inventive, with fine dining, unusual venues and even hot tubs thrown in to lure audiences. But for Antonia Quirke, nothing can match the downbeat charm of a black-box cinema on a weekday afternoon  

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