A certain British art institution opens its doors across the pond today and all eyes are on a little island in New York. London has been having a great run of form in terms of high profile art events in recent months (with many more to come over Summer), it just seems that today, especially with the sale of The Scream in the Big Apple earlier this week, we can allow the shift States-ward for the day. That does not by any means indicate that your dear Culture section has nothing of great stature to say.

Indeed, today we look to the past and to arguably one of the greatest minds who ever lived: Leonardo Da Vinci. Coming on the heels of the blockbuster exhibition at the National Gallery, the Royal Collection presents Anatomist, an exhibition of works comprising drawings, sketches, notes and diaries.  All personal artefacts of the man, this is one of the great treasures of British art collection.

Robert Longo, that great Postmodernist, who credits his move to New York as the start of his true creative period and which is a world away from Da Vinci's Florentine courts, speaks of Formalism, Romanticism and Mannerism as points on a clock. An artist must tick-tock his or her way through these points in order to remain current, he argues. In this exhibition of work Da Vinci demonstrates his fascination with the human body in all its intricacies. Depth, shadow and light illuminating the million microcosms of every single inch, inner and outer. What we see here is an artist working at the three points simultaneously. Da Vinci as artist and scientist, as Romanticist and realist. Sure, its an exhibition that could have come at any point in time and that would have been celebrated justly, but with further blockbusters to come (including Bauhaus at Barbican, which opened yesterday and will be profiled here next week, and Yoko Ono at Serpentine Gallery) now seems like an accurate time to reflect on what's great about art. There are moments here that are simply perfection, and until we get the Frieze hangover returning in their droves and with their noise next week this is that moment of the you in art.

Leonardo Da Vinci: Anatomist is at The Queen's Gallery, The Royal Collection until 07 October.

Documentary has been the artform for the twenty-first century. Digital technologies have made professional movie-making tools accessible to anyone with a computer, and digital television and web broadcast has brought a wealth of viewing opportunities to international audiences. From Supersize Me to An Incovenient Truth to Bombay Beach, the stories that a man with a movie camera has access to are the most riveting form of news and contemporary cultural information. An offset of this has been that conventional feature film documentary has had a renewed eminence, and truly great examples, films like Asif Kapadia's Senna, find a general audience that might otherwise not take an interest in.

Kevin Macdonald was one of the great contemporary documentary makers. With films including Touching the Void and the Oscar-winning One Day in September, Macdonald was revisioning how to tell a non-fiction story for cinema, television and home video. Success being what it is, Macdonald went to Hollywood and made critically and commercially lauded movies including State of Play and The Last King of Scotland. He returns to his popular roots with his latest film, the feature documentary, Marley.

You know the man, though mightn't know the complete story. Bob Marley was a true visionary, and one of the twentieth century's greatest musicians. From incredibly humble beginnings, Marley transformed the popular sound of reggae until it was both true to its urban roots and an evocation of a Caribbean sensibility that is as romantic as a summer holiday. This detailed look at the man's life takes in as much as the frame of the cinema screen can hold, and reveals that there is much about Marley that is relatively unknown. A really fantastic film (please mind the value judgement), Macdonald manages to hold a balance between demystifying his subject while still maintaining a reverence for the legend. (Here is where I'll qualify my previous value judgement): The mark of a good film, better yet a documentary, is one that will thrall fans and non-fans alike. The subject might be legendary to some, but the film is simply gripping for anyone who enjoys a good movie.

Marley is on general release.

5x15 is a literary initiative. If that sounds boring, it's only due to your dear Culture Editor's pervasive inadequacy with the written word. We hope to have instilled in enough trust in you that you, once, perhaps twice, would allow us to show you something a little less than mainstream.

But you wouldn't want the kind of event that 5x15 is to become too mainstream. Instigated by Rosie Boycott, Daisy Leitch and Eleanor O'Keeffe, the night brings together five literary minds and allows them the space to speak for fifteen minutes apiece, unfettered. Its reputation is such that all manner of cultural personalities are lining up to speak. They've had so far names including Nick Broomfield, Geoff Dyer, Mike Figgis, Craig Brown, Eve Ensler, Alan De Botton and Howard Jacobson, to come you'll have Salman Rushdie, Ben Okri, Simon Jenkins and William Dalrymple. Phew.

Tonight, at Gray's Inn, they have lined up Terry Waite, Crispin Blunt, Chris Moore, Nikita Lalwani and Noel 'Razor' Smith. More than one of these people has been imprisoned (it's not particularly relevant, but it's an interesting fact). Such a broad range of interest and experience, it's an event that keeps on giving.

5x15 is at Gray's Inn, tonight at 1900.