Prototyping: A Politics of Memory

This paper presents a view on the architectural prototype as an exteriorisation of human memory. Bernard Stiegler describes the politics of memory involved in the process of hypomnesis, in which memory is stored in technology. Stiegler’s ideas with relation to the prototype were developed while working on a research prototype. Four modes of exteriorisation have been extracted from that process: the use of memory aids, the prototype as stepping stone for thought, the digitisation of fabrication, and the prototype used for communication. This analysis provides a pathway for making expert knowledge available and accessible as a common good.