Issue 42 of Afterall addresses the crisis of representation in contemporary art through the work of Pierre Huyghe and Tania Bruguera, reflecting on how they each intervene into biological and political systems. We also put a spotlight on the contributions of two lesser-known women artists--Indonesian Arahmaiani and Egyptian Inji Efflatoun--and their capacity to speak truth to power in their respective contexts. Finally, accompanying essays include Charles Esche on Chinese artist Li Mu, Diedrich Diederichsen on political art, and an interview with Walter Benjamin.