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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In a despatch from Hong Kong, the FT’s arts writer reflects on the city’s ‘Tate bricks’ moment, and what it tells us about the fast-changing status of contemporary art in China  

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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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As Sotheby’s prepares for a selling exhibition of the street artist’s work the FT’s arts writer reflects on shock culture – and the art market’s appetite for it.  

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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 Arts Council England announces its latest round of funding, FT arts editor Jan Dalley reflects on what the language of “investment” means for the art of our time.  

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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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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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The editor of arthistorynews.com welcomes the decision of the National Gallery in London to let visitors photograph works – and hits back at critics who say it will make people look at art in the ‘wrong’ way  

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Courtauld Institute student and arts writer Aindrea Emelife reflects on the current neglect of Surrealism in the art world – and considers what significance the movement might still hold for today’s young rebels  

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On holiday in Greece, the FT’s arts writer travels to some out-of-the-way ancient sites and wonders whether they still hold lessons for 21st-century visitors – or are just another aspect of vacation kitsch  

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With their ever-growing ability to crunch data and analyse patterns, computers are valuable tools for art research – but that doesn’t mean art historians will soon be a thing of the past, argues Bendor Grosvenor  

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The singer’s New York sculpture show confirms that contemporary art has replaced music as the go-to means of expression for young people with attitude, says the FT’s arts writer  

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The singer-songwriter is about to turn 80 – a rite of passage not only for him but also for rock music. Peter Aspden celebrates a musician with a rare talent for staying ahead of the times  

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The received wisdom is that contemporary art is just what a regenerating city needs, a stimulant for minds and economies alike. But are the wilfully puzzling tropes of the avant-garde really what the public wants?  

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As London's National Gallery prepares to open a blockbuster exhibition of the artist's late works, art historian Bendor Grosvenor looks at the chaotic world of Rembrandt connoisseurship.  

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The FT’s arts writer enjoys the troupe’s dance extravaganza at the Barbican – and explains why the fusion of hip-hop and martial arts might just conquer the world  

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Art may be essentially egalitarian as it illuminates the human condition – but that hasn't stopped members of the Porsche Travel Club getting special access to the Sistine Chapel. Should we worry if the wealthy corner the finest cultural experiences?  

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As pop star Swift, 24, takes a stand against Spotify and dancer Guillem, 49, announces her retirement, Peter Aspden reflects on two very different divas  

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How a legal dispute over the use of a John Lennon song in a sneaker advert paved the way for today’s cultural mash-ups – and put paid to the notion of artists “selling out”  

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20 years after the launch of the National Lottery, Jan Dalley celebrates how it has become the most successful form of cultural crowd-funding ever  

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By focusing on the personal rather than the political, Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski created a quietly subversive masterpiece, Peter Aspden says  

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Here today, washed-up tomorrow: that’s supposed to be the career trajectory for musicians in the pop age. But, as two recent projects show, great artists will always find ways to keep their signature work fresh and relevant  

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In lending one of its Parthenon sculptures to Russia, the British Museum has provoked Greece and exposed the hollowness of so-called ‘cultural diplomacy’  

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The London venue’s exhibition of Presley memorabilia is curious mix of the banal and the resplendent – and none the worse for that, says the FT’s arts writer  

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'Ambition', by the award-winning author Helen Simpson, is read by Christopher Villiers.  

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Between 1962 and 1972, the magazine set new standards for its industry – and in doing so created the perfect collectible, says Peter Aspden  

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Politicians love to keep things simple, at least in their public pronouncements. Artists, by contrast, embrace complication, nuance and imagination – so who better to tackle slippery questions of national identity as the UK prepares for a general election?  

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Peter Aspden visits the basement treasure-house where recordings of Florence Nightingale, 1940s electronica and other rarities are stored alongside some equally exotic audio technology  

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The Belgian artist has been found guilty of plagiarism. But intellectual property law is a poor fit with contemporary art's mash-ups, multiples and reworkings, says the FT's arts editor  

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As two recent biopics come under fire from those depicted, the FT’s arts editor ponders what compels movie-makers to embellish ‘true stories’  

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Greek culture taught the rest of us how to live ‑ and it’s not time to write off that particular debt yet, says Peter Aspden  

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From recordings by Memphis Minnie and Led Zeppelin to sampling by Dr Dre, Eminem and Massive Attack, David Cheal traces the various incarnations of ‘When the Levee Breaks’. Credits: Columbia, Atlantic, The Chronic Interscope  

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The Life of a Song: David Cheal follows the fortunes of Neil Diamond’s ‘I’m a Believer’, from The Monkees to Robert Wyatt to the movie 'Shrek'. Credits: Colgems, Virgin, Interscope, Sony Music  

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The anarchist and anthropologist David Graeber discusses both the stupidity and secret joys of bureaucracy with the FT's Martin Sandbu and Lucy Kellaway  

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David Cheal tells the story of Randy Newman’s ‘Baltimore’, through covers by Nina Simone, The Tamlins and Billy Mackenzie. Credits: CTI, Warner Bros., EMI  

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David Cheal traces the journey of ‘Guantanamera’, from a 19th-century Cuban national hero to a 21st-century recycling campaign, via Celia Cruz and the peace movement of the 1960s. Credits: RCA Victor, Bravo Hit, Universal Music AB, Columbia  

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Ludovic Hunter-Tilney looks at 'It's the Hard Knock Life' from Broadway's musical Annie and its influences on Katy Perry's 'Roar' and Jay-Z's 'Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)'. Credits:Columbia, Roc-A-Fella, Columbia  

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From Billy Paul’s adulterous original in 1972 to Amy Winehouse's gender-bending twist on the song 30 years later, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney gets to grips with 'Me and Mrs Jones'. Credits:Philadelphia International, 143, Island  

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From a heavy metal hit to its use in the Abu Ghraib tortures, Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ strikes some sinister chords with Ludovic Hunter-Tilney. Credit: Elektra  

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Peter Aspden on 'A Whiter Shade of Pale', the melancholy 1967 Procol Harum song whose melody was 'sparked by Bach' and which set off a legal battle that went all the way to the House of Lords. Credits: ANM, AP Music, DLG Digital, Demon Music Group  

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Peter Aspden tells the story of Burt Bacharach’s feelgood anthem ‘Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head’  

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Peter Aspden tells the story of 'Misirlou', the swaying Anatolian love song that was reinvented as a 1960s surfers' anthem before gaining a massive audience with Pulp Fiction and sampling by The Black Eyed Peas. Credits: Parker Street Records, JB Production, Universal Music Group  

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Peter Aspden on the 'floating song' recorded by Alan Lomax in 1930s Kentucky that went on to be covered by Woodie Guthrie, Bob Dylan and, of course, The Animals. Credits: Concord Music Group, Marathon Media International, BMI  

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David Honigmann on the Louis Armstrong blues song that inspired a poem by WH Auden and recordings by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and others.  

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David Honigmann explores one of the handful of songs recorded by the blues singer Robert Johnson, in which he is pursued by the Devil, society or his own demons. Credits: UMG Recordings, Inc., Blue Note Records, Universal Island Records Ltd., Not Now Music Ltd  

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