May 26, 2012

Progress can be an illusion

The gay rights issue may no longer be at a cruel crossroads but ‘Torch Song Trilogy’ is worth reviving

John Simm ©Anna Skladmann From FT MAGAZINE May 19, 2012

Interview John Simm

The television actor and ‘Life on Mars’ star is returning to the stage for Pinter’s ‘Betrayal’. He talks about ignoring Hollywood remakes and the joy of the ukelele

A view from the Orbit ©Nadav Kander From FT MAGAZINE May 12, 2012

A view from Orbit

The dramatic, twisting tower of metal - designed by Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond – is London’s new Olympic landmark

Mohamed Abla's 'Being Together' ©FT From ARTS May 12, 2012

The power of painting

Anyone looking for signs of the revolution that was to come in the past decade only had to keep an eye on Cairo’s art scene

From ARTS May 5, 2012

First prize for eclecticism

The South Bank Sky Arts Awards were a telling snapshot of today’s ‘culture of the nation’, says Peter Aspden

Exterior of the Tate Modern ©Bloomberg From ARTS Apr 28, 2012

When industry gives way to art

Where we see decay and disorder, artists see inspiration

Jean Cocteau’s chapel mural in Soho From ARTS Apr 21, 2012

When Cocteau came to Soho

The French writer and artist’s chapel mural in Leicester Square is, if not exactly one of London’s cultural secrets, one of its best jokes

©Charlie Bibby From ARTS Apr 21, 2012

So, what does ‘The Scream’ mean?

Edvard Munch’s painting is one of the world’s most disturbing images. Peter Aspden examines this icon of modern art and talks to the man selling it at auction next month

Arts From ARTS Mar 30, 2012

Sentiment and experiment

CORE, a contemporary art installation, connects the flights of creative thinking with its discernible results

Mark Ronson at Metropolis Studios in London ©Charlie Bibby From ARTS Mar 30, 2012

Lost in motion

Pop musician, producer and DJ Mark Ronson tells how he came to write the score for a ballet

From FOOD & DRINK Mar 24, 2012

Lessons learnt from lunch

What happened when Peter Aspden was served a barely cooked onion and pear at a fashionable London restaurant

From ARTS Mar 23, 2012

Paul Simon’s not so simple dilemma

The ‘Graceland’ album was rightly acclaimed on its release in 1986 ,but it was also dogged by political controversy

From ARTS Mar 23, 2012

Rock and a hard place

Paolo Sorrentino confounds expectations again with his quirky new film about a middle-aged pop star hunting Nazis

From BOOKS Mar 16, 2012

While the city eats

‘Al Dente’ is David Winner’s paean to the seductive arts of Italy’s capital and postmodern travel writing at its sharpest

From ARTS Mar 9, 2012

Greatness thrust upon us

The attempt to open up and share arts projects with the whole world is soft power at its most effective

From ARTS Mar 3, 2012

Exiled to the mainstream

Karl Jenkins is widely derided in serious musical circles for the overly tuneful and accessible nature of his work

From ARTS Feb 17, 2012

A space of waste

Chinese artist Song Dong is in London again, bringing a whole new batch of gnomic observations with him

From FT MAGAZINE Feb 17, 2012

The Fourth Plinth: ‘The Horse and His Boy’ unveiled

Trafalgar Square’s next incumbent is a quietly subversive work by Scandinavian artists Elmgreen & Dragset. Peter Aspden had exclusive access to its making

From ARTS Feb 10, 2012

The majestic survivors

Nobody better understands modern Britain than the Queen and Paul McCartney

From ARTS Jan 27, 2012

Pilgrims’ progress

The British Museum’s ambitious new exhibition about the Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca shows that modernity and secularism do not always go hand in hand, writes Peter Aspden

About Peter

Peter Aspden Peter Aspden is the Financial Times’ arts writer, having previously been its arts editor for five years. He joined the paper in 1994, as deputy books and arts editor and a general feature writer on Weekend FT. He has written on numerous subjects, including travel, religion, politics, history, most art forms and sport: he covered the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, and the World Cup in France in 1998.

He was educated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics, before going into journalism. He joined the Times Higher Education Supplement in 1985, where he went on to become deputy editor. He has been writing a weekly column on contemporary culture since January 2004; it appears in the Life & Arts section every Saturday.

E-mail Peter Aspden

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