FT Arts

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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”

Galleries display only a fraction of the works in their collections. Art historian Bendor Grosvenor says it’s time they faced down their conservation departments and liberated their hidden masterpieces

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?

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

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.