Ben Windsor

Anselm Kiefer is something of an anomaly in the upper reaches of the contemporary art world.

In a period when the super-rich who set many trends favour the vacuous and decorative, his work engages with big ideas about society and history. He’s not shy of taking a political stand either: for several years he refused to attend his openings in the US, in protest against the Iraq war.

Fontamara was a literary phenomenon when first published in 1933. To many readers, it quickly became the great anti-fascist novel, translated into 27 other languages and selling over 1.5 million copies around the world.

The Fontamara (bitter spring) of the title is a fictional village in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. The bulk of the population work the earth to survive, emigrate if that proves impossible, and are largely ignorant of events in the outside world. Mussolini might as well be governing from Mars as far as they’re concerned.

Tate Britain, London, until 31 August

Policing the borders of art is a tricky business. They’re porous, and they’re constantly shifting. What passes as “art” today may no longer pass tomorrow. It’s like nailing jelly to a tree.

This is not a question that torments most of us. But the movers and shakers in the art world are obsessed with it. Either they’ve got millions riding on their favourites or else they’ve erected palaces of high culture around them.

The title of Burak Delier's show is inspired by recent social movements. The artist argues, "When we consider the recent uprisings in Istanbul, Tahrir Square and Occupy New York, we can see that the rioters don't have a programme. Nobody knows exactly how we'll become free."

Burak is a Turkish artist living in Istanbul who has been politically engaged for many years. This is his first exhibition in Britain.

Each year Art Review magazine compiles a list of the 100 most powerful people in the art world. This year, the highest ranked artist, Ai Weiwei, languishes at No 9. All places above him are taken by directors of public museums and private galleries (the trend setters of the art world) with one exception.

The Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park has just doubled in size - taking over an old gunpowder store nearby. This was built during the Napoleonic wars "in case of foreign invasion or popular uprising". It was a time when our rulers were terrified that the French Revolution might be contagious, and felt they needed a ready supply in the heart of the capital.

Boss, a US TV drama that has just premiered in Britain, focuses on the political manoeuverings of the Mayor of Chicago and his opponents. But it smacks more of The Sopranos than the West Wing, with a bit of King Lear thrown in. It is a portrait of the politician as a gangster and of the gangster as tragic hero.

EZLN, Tierra y Libertad, Kate Luscher

This book collects the posters produced by the Celebrate People's History project over a period of 12 years. Although the project's director, Josh MacPhee, is a Chicago-based anarchist, he has commissioned them from a wide variety of artists engaged in different campaigns around the world.

Carlos tells the story of Ilich Ramirez Sánchez - commonly known as Carlos the Jackal. He was the world's most infamous terrorist in the 1970s and 1980s. A Venezuelan, and the son of a wealthy Marxist lawyer, Carlos started off working for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) but fell out with them when he bungled a high-profile operation. He then set up his own organisation.

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has its origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851, which displayed the wonders of the British Empire to the world.