Artspeak – like any speech – should clarify and not blur the issues it deals with. Verbalizing art is a demanding task, because the content of artworks is often abstract and difficult. In this tough task, artspeak sometimes becomes so convoluted that it itself needs interpretation. Only with difficulty can the average visitor to an art exhibition distinguish contemporary art from modern. Moreover, he still has to ponder, along with the author of the exhibition catalogue, whether abjection is a relevant concept in the analysis of contemporary art and whether the artwork speaks of presence orabsence of presence. The Kiasma Museum narrowed the gap by publishing a contemporary art glossary related to its Hits exhibition, a welcome attempt to increase the readability of artspeak. The glossary will hopefully help authors to write about art in layman’s terms, so that an exhibition visitor does not need a dictionary to interpret the catalogue. However, providing such a glossary treats only the symptoms and not the problem.