‘Robot and Frank’ paints a benign picture of silicon-based life-forms. But the film’s ‘near-future’ setting is one that often wrong-foots screenwriters  

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As a stage version of the classic BBC sitcom comes to London, the FT’s arts writer reflects on the series’ pioneering mix of comedy and drama  

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The emirate’s contemporary arts event considers some thorny regional issues in a deceptively laid-back way, says the FT’s arts writer  

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

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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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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 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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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Ludovic Hunter-Tilney uncovers the back story of Vanilla Ice’s hit Ice Ice Baby. Credits:Ultra, EMI  

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Elvis Costello wrote the song during the Falklands War yet, David Honigmann says, its specific political subtext didn't deter Suede, The Unthanks and others from covering it. Credits: Domino Recording, Universal Music Catalogue)/Elvis Costello, Topic Records Ltd, RabbleRouser Music  

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Podcasts have existed for more than 10 years but have recently seen a surge of interest, spurred by the success of the true crime drama Serial, which has been downloaded more than 70m times. What is driving the so-called “podcast renaissance”? How are they different from radio shows? And do they pose a threat to traditional broadcasting? FT technology editor Ravi Mattu is joined by literature professor Sarah Churchwell, veteran podcaster Helen Zaltzman and Mark Friend, who is responsible for BBC Radio online. Produced by Griselda Murray Brown and Lily Le Brun  

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Nat King Cole's 1948 hit made an unlikely celebrity of its back-to-nature songwriter, and established Cole's solo career - but, says Mike Hobart, it also lived through racial bigotry and legal action before covers by Sinatra, Bowie and Lady Gaga. Credits: The Restoration Project, Columbia Records, Interscope Records  

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Going back to the roots of Lamont Dozier's 1977 hit, David Cheal uncovers TV inspiration, Woodstockian vibes and a question mark over the authorship of that famous guitar lick. Credits: Warner Music TV, Rhino/Elektra, Marathon Media International, Orlando Julius Afro House of High Life.  

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Michael Jackson's first foray into rock helped dismantle barriers of genre — and race — in the early 1980s music business. Maria Crawford tells the story. Credits: Epic, Mercury Records.  

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John Leyton's 1961 "death disc" was born out of a séance and banned by the BBC but still reached Number 1. Cathi Unsworth tells the song's eerie tale and follows the trail of tears it left behind. Credit: Puzzle Productions/DMI; Goldenlane Records; Caribe Sound; EMI  

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It was written for Otis Redding but he never sang it, became a hit for the Bee Gees and covered by numerous bands in various genres but who was the unlikely inspiration for 'To Love Somebody'? Ian McCann tells the story. Credits: Bee Gees/Reprise; Ace Records; Sanctuary; London Records  

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