The model village of Bournville represents one man's vision of an ideal place to live and work. The village was established in 1895 by George Cadbury, a Quaker philanthropist and chocolate factory owner, on a greenfield plot four miles from the centre of Birmingham, England. In the Midst of Things is based on the proposal that Utopia can only be understood in the act of attempting to achieve it: it is a meditation on art, architecture, design and the gap between ideals and realities, as well as the record of an exhibition. In the Midst of Things was an exhibition that brought together work by 28 artists and architects in Bournville in 1999. This book explores the philosophical and conceptual possibilities that emerged.