The article discusses the secret funding of the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the role of Michael Josselson, founder and head of the CCF as a CIA agent. This story about Josselson and the CIA was discussed in “Gentlemen & Arseholes,” an artist's book by Lene Berg. It relates how Diana Josselson, the widow of Michael, defended her husband's work for his work in the CIA in “The Man in the Background,” a 2006 video by Berg. It discusses how the discovery of the link between CIA and the CCF ruined the life of Josselson.

Jacob Wren on the work of Finnish artist Nina Lassila.

This article discusses Report (Not Announcement): Transitionary Report on the State of Mobility at the Beginning of the 21st Century (Bak/Revolver, 2006), a compilation edited by Binna Choi. The article discusses the increasing mobility of artists today as they travel internationally from one city to another, and the effect of this on smaller local artistic communities. He discusses the pressure felt by artists to travel, and the financial and social privilege of living a nomadic lifestyle. The article discusses the views of contributors to the book, including Gunes Savas, Jens Hoffmann, and Tobias Berger.

The author discusses the Italian artist duo Goldiechiari, comprised of members Sarah Goldschmied and Eleonora Chiari. The duo describes their work as “ironic activism,” striving to create images in which difficult and political issues also manage to be entertaining, pleasurable, and lively. The article discusses the duo’s 2002 photograph Submerged Struggle, as well as their 2004 work Welcome, which the author discusses in relation to the Israel Palestine conflict.

An interview with Finnish curator, teacher and art critic Mika Hannula is presented. The interview touches upon Hannula’s understanding of ethics and its relation to visual art, violence, her Rape Park project in Helsinki, and nation-state cultural policy.

This article discusses the romantic model of the artist and how is has changed or stayed the same through the history of art. It compares the older romantic model to the newer entrepreneurial idea of the contemporary artist. The writer discusses Martin Kippenberger’s 1991 work Heavy Burschi (Heavy Guy) at length, including its use of irony and how it construes the role of the contemporary artist.

Jacob Wren recounts his experience encountering the drawings of Kaoru Arima for the first time. Wren reflects on the phenomena of otherness, cultural disparity, and the excitement of the unknown that is present in Arima’s art and demonstrated through Wren’s interaction with the work.

This article discusses philosopher Alain Badiou’s approach to truth, summarizing his key terms of situation, event, truth and fidelity. The author argues that this concept may be considered useful to the production and critical discourse of contemporary visual art.