Prototypes as performative

  • Authors:

  • Peter Danholt

  • Affiliations:

  • Roskilde University, Roskilde

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 4th decennial conference on Critical computing: between sense and sensibility
  • Year:
  • 2005

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Abstract

This paper considers performative aspects of prototyping in design. Drawing on STS and a casestudy involving a prototypical disease management technology, it exemplify and discuss prototyping as a performative process that produces specific subjectivities and bodies. Prototypes are not only vehicles for learning or containers of ideas, but material things that prescribe, animate and produce bodies and agencies. Viewed as such perplexity, inconsistency and contradictions is not anomalies in design, but to be expected because users as well as designers are in a process of exploration and experimentation. Equally prototypes are both concrete and present as well imaginary and futuristic. The author argue that designers and researchers should sensitize themselves to performative aspects of prototyping in order to understand the mutually transformative consequences for both artifacts and humans in these processes.