Melted Clock, Cass Technical High School
The Ruins Of Detroit, 2010 (Steidl)
Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre
Think you can forget the continued financial and political doom by immersing yourself in a good film? Think again... we all know the coalition's been a-quango-cutting, but what else is holding back UK cinema? Where are works like Battleship Potemkin, which reshaped Hollywood? Maybe Francis Ford Coppola has some tips on taking risks and raking in dosh, and Alexandre Desplat on livening things up musically.
Yet to create a twitter account? Start tweeting with co-founder Jack Dorsey -- and while you're at it, raise a 10th birthday toast to Wikipedia. You may be suffering from WikiLeaks overkill, but it matters -- just as much as the top ten brains of the digital future. And as you play with your iPod/iPhone/iPad, contemplate how you may be contributing to the world's first $1 trillion company (or maybe not?).

A world away from glossy technology, Burning Man sets up its desert metropolis, but it's less about the landscape than the soundtrack. The recession has helped to bring about a back-to-basics, even -- gasp, common sense -- attitude to architecture... wish we could say the same for Spain's overblown City of Culture (it ain't got nothing on the Empire State Building or a cubed, mirrored tree hotel). Put it this way: you won't find it on Wallpaper*'s 2011 Design Awards.

Cindy Sherman talks me, myself and I, while Koons tries to copyright balloon dogs (don't try this at home, kids) and Ai Weiwei makes an art of destruction. None of this sounds as fraught as the last days of Tate's Gauguin blockbuster, marred by -- horror of horrors -- "gallery rage". Jamie XX takes a more relaxed view as he talks Gil Scott-Heron -- he's one of many musicians working in a transformed music landscape -- but Tony Blair, for one, is still on the defensive. Meanwhile, the new super-rich isn't troubled by any of this, living as they do in the modern equivalent of an F Scott Fitzgerald story.

rip: mike kelley... a game-changer for the art world http://t.co/cQnqeOS6 (via @latimes)
east bay express: the demise of megaupload could have unfortunate consequences on the underground music community http://t.co/P8BzYCfx
ft: thomas struth, jeff wall and josef koudelka discuss art, israel and bear costumes http://t.co/SD4yPocf
wired: crowdfunding... kickstarter brings risky game ideas to life http://t.co/ypfBxROK
wsj: auction houses clean up as investors vie for art http://t.co/7Brg2huX
follow kultureflash on
sign up for our email newsletter