Invited to exhibit at the 56th Venice Biennale, e-flux journal produced a single issue over a four-month span, publishing an article a day both online and on site from Venice.

The essential reader for today's creative leaders and cultural practitioners, including original contributions by artists, scholars, activists, critics, curators and writers who examine the historical precedent of South Africa; the current cultural boycott of Israel; freedom of speech and self-censorship; and long-distance activism. It is about consequences and causes of cultural boycott.

The perceived rules of the development and running of alternative spaces, and where those rules came from, are among the questions answered by the authors. The underlying message in the publication is the importance of critical thinking as well as the need for alternative thinking.

Excerpts from Disappeared in America.