Starting with the peculiar existence of the example and the importance of a paradigmatic method for artistic research endeavours, my contribution to this volume on ‘transposition’ introduces an idea of ‘making use’ that is non-utilitarian and immediately brings into existence a relational unity, a profound bond, between that which is used and that or who is using it. Drawing upon my previous research and the current work of Giorgio Agamben, I bring close together the existence of the example and this idea of ‘making use’ to show that with both there is no residue, nothing preceding left behind, and nothing foundational to be found in a separate realm. This has consequences for not only how we understand ‘transposition’ but also for the functioning and control of a power that constitutes itself by separating something from it.