Expressive art

Germany's Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation will oversee the return of the statues to Nigeria, but it's going to be a complicated process.

When in 2019 Nigerian painter Julius Agbaje depicted President Muhammadu Buhari as the Joker, he never imagined that a year later his portrait would become a symbol of youth protest. With the tip of his brush in his tiny studio in the popular Alimosho district of Lagos, the 28-year-old artist challenges Nigeria's institutions in order to fight social injustices.

The buyer of a $69 million digital artwork in the form of "non-fungible tokens" (NFTs) says he felt a "soul connection" with the artist as both men started as relative amateurs in their field but found success after years of hard work. Singapore based Vignesh Sundaresan, also known as MetaKovan, defends the price he paid for the collage of 5,000 pieces of art created on consecutive days, which has transformed its creator, real name Mike Winkelmann, into the third-most valuable living artist.

We take a look at the Covid-19 hurdles France is facing, as it nears the tragic milestone of 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus. We also dive into the twists and turns around one of the world's most expensive paintings, the "Salvator Mundi". Finally, we discuss 100,000-year-old footprints and an age-old love for wiggling your toes in the sand.

Egypt's combative sport of tahtib (stick-fighting), popular at weddings and dating back at least 5,000 years, has become a modern martial art that enthusiasts hope will eventually make it to the Olympics.

Paris's Cité Internationale des Arts is a creative microcosm, with international practitioners working alongside each other on projects that range from engraving to video art. Our reporters have been to see their latest group show, entitled "Répare Reprise". It seeks to unravel tumultuous events in Africa and the Middle East and reappropriate them using a range of media, including photography, textile art and painting.

The National Gallery in London reopens to visitors as Covid-19 restrictions are eased across the country. From pints indoors to cinema screenings and hugs with loved ones, most of Britain has seen a significant easing of coronavirus restrictions, despite new fears over a more transmissible Indian variant.

Art collectors and musicians have been advised to take advantage of technology in making and selling a non-fungible token, NFT.

NFTs – or non-fungible tokens – are effectively a digital proof of sale, and it's fair to say they’re having a moment. Most recently an iconic YouTube home video from 2007 called "Charlie bit my finger" has been sold for a six-figure sum as an NFT, with the family who made it pledging that the winning bidder is now "the sole owner of this lovable piece of internet history". So how exactly do NFTs work? And could they transform the way we do business in the future? We speak to financial technology expert James Bowden, a lecturer at the University of Strathclyde.

Is it better to be poor in the US or India? What does living below a country's poverty line mean for the way people sustain themselves? We speak to photographer-economist duo Chow and Lin about their book "The Poverty Line", a decade-long project that explores what living with limited resources means for the dinner plates of different communities around the globe. Their exhibition "Summer of Fireflies: The Poverty Line Solo Exhibition" will be showing at the Rencontres d'Arles festival from July 4.

Two filmmakers escape to Ingmar Bergman's island home, in search of inspiration and a quiet place to write. Vicky Krieps and Tim Roth play the creative couple at the centre of Mia Hansen-Løve's "Bergman Island". And then, another film starts. This Russian doll of a drama explores the very nature of art, life and creative relationships. We hear more from the French filmmaker and her leading man about the sacred monsters of cinema. We also discuss different approaches to the creative process.

Japanese art collective teamLab launches a visually spectacular exhibition, propelling a forest in the southwest island of Kyushu to come alive with lights and colourful projections.