The Making of the Means

The Making of the Means by Ben Cain
Published on the occasion of Cain's exhibition at Wiels

The writing and objects seen here in this book comprised part of the solo exhibition The Making Of The
Means, which took place at Wiels in Brussels during the Summer of 2009.
This book is not a record of that exhibition, but rather intends to focus on representing the conversations
and dialogues that were key components of the show.
In The Making of the Means, a series of informal fictional conversations, written in three languages and
presented in the form of hand written and printed text on posters were situated on walls and purpose-
built display units in a large open space. Here the conversations were placed in direct relation to a
purpose built environment, to a very physical type of making, and to a number of objects that might be
seen as sculptures, production or conversation tools; or construction materials which balanced between
'outcomes' and 'process. The built environment and its various objects and architectural interventions
had a dramatic influence on the nature of the text, and perhaps more significantly on the way in which
the text could be read, both in terms of interpretation, and ones physical positioning while reading. An
awareness of the physical environment, and ones negotiation of, and influence upon it was integral to
the reading experience.
The exhibition included a slow and repetitive piece of sound that was played at a low level via speakers
placed in the ceiling, This purpose-made sound consisted of claps, tings, bangs and clicks. In addition
the exhibition also included two single channel video works, one of which featured the process of glass
blowing, and the other featured footage taken from workshops with two dancers.
Here the conversations take the form of a pocketbook, or handbook. While this book gives some
indication of how these conversations have been presented and performed in the past, they are here
allowed to take place outside of the first frame of 'The Making of the Means, independent from space
and material. The interrelation of reading, doing and realising is still present, but the nature of that
interrelation is now more firmly and literally in the hands of the reader, for them to take from place to
place, and room to room.

Signed and numbered edition of 300.