Before he became Britain’s most controversial film director, Russell forged a career as a photographer, capturing the great eccentrics of his youth for posterity
Before he became Britain’s most controversial film director with Women In Love in 1969, and long before he gained a burst of brief late notoriety by joining …

Grime MCs rapping about Chris Ofili paintings? If it challenges white, middle-aged art critics then it can only be a good thing
The art world thrives on the reactions of critics. Sensationalist work damned as “gratuitous” or “pretentious” is what makes the Turner prize so exciting. The most media-worthy pieces of …

Before he became Britain’s most controversial film director, Ken Russell forged a career as a photographer, capturing the great eccentrics of his youth for posterity. His work features in two forthcoming exhibitions: at Lucy Bell Fine Art, St Leonards-on-Sea (17 Mar-30 Apr) Lucy-Bell.com, then at the Topfoto Gallery, Edenbridge, Kent …

Artes Mundi is back for a fourth year in Cardiff, while Phil Collins airs his filmworks in Liverpool. Here’s what’s happening in art around the country

Robbie Cooper, Bradford
Robbie Cooper hides video and still-photo cameras in TV and computer screens to watch the watchers. There’s the flush and blush of the porno-viewer, the zombie stare of the horror fan, the enchanted wow of children’s TV toddlers, the incredulous recoil of the unwilling witnesses of disastrous news. …

We know about the devastation and looting – but what impact has war had on Iraq’s artistic heritage? Seven years after the invasion, Hadani Ditmars returns to Baghdad to find out
We hear plenty about the horror of Iraq. There are bombs in market places, at hotels and official buildings. There …

At 35kg, is The History of the Saatchi Gallery a tome for the discerning art lover or just an oversize paperweight? Adrian Searle finds out …
Adrian Searle
Andrew Dickson
Andy Gallagher

Designation brought in millions of extra visitors and pounds in 2008, says research
It may not have been an unalloyed critical triumph, but Liverpool’s year as European capital of culture earned the city bumper visitor numbers and a multimillion-pound boost to its economy, academics have found.
A five-year research programme published today …

Let’s face it: art fairs are exhausting and a terrible way to see work. But they’re essential for galleries and artists
Last week was Armory week in New York. If ever there was a surfeit of contemporary art in one place, then now is the time. It was centred on the …

The Infernal Comedy, based on true story of Austrian serial killer, among highlights of Barbican’s plans for coming year
It might not be the cheeriest night out, watching John Malkovich as a resurrected Austrian serial killer on stage with a baroque orchestra and two sopranos singing arias about murder and abandonment, …