PROTOTYPING
Experiment in Public. Prototype with Purpose.
At the Columbia Digital Storytelling Lab (DSL), prototyping is a method of inquiry, not just a step in production. It’s how we explore the future — by making it together.
We believe in open prototyping: a collaborative, participatory practice that invites artists, technologists, storytellers, and curious minds of all skill levels to experiment in public, iterate rapidly, and learn through doing. This is do-it-with-others (DIWO), not DIY.
Prototyping at DSL isn’t about perfect products. It’s about creating discursive artifacts — experiences, tools, and systems that ask questions, provoke dialogue, and spark new ways of seeing.
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Prototype Your Own
You don’t need permission. You don’t need to be an expert. You just need a question — and a willingness to explore it through making.
We encourage others to take part:
→ Create your own decentralized experiment - it can be anything
→ Fork one of our public prototypes (Frankenstein AI, Sherlock Holmes & the Internet of Things or Last Human)
→ Remix ideas, build artifacts, make art, tell stories, create tools—and share what you learn.
Have something to contribute? We’re excited to see what you build.
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Prototype With Us
Anyone is welcome to prototype alongside us or independently. Below are two living examples of how we approach experimental storytelling and decentralized creative infrastructure.
Last Human
(OPEN OPPORTUNITY)An open generative world project exploring the Dead Internet theory
The Last Human is a sprawling, open-world narrative experiment. Set in a collapsing simulation where synthetic identity, deception, and machine hallucinations shape experience, players enter an eerie, post-human world where AI tests your reality — and your role in it. From browser-based games like Human vs Bot to decentralized lore-building and performative NFT minting, The Last Human is an invitation to co-create the end — and rebirth — of the internet.
It’s a prototype in speculative infrastructure: How do we build new worlds while unbuilding the old?
For more info on Last Human check out our art zine meets prototyping journal. Available on Metalabel a collaborative publishing platform.
Last Human is released under a Creative Commons Zero Public Domain license.
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AN EXAMPLE OF A PROJECT THAT BENEFITED FROM PROTOTYPING
Where There’s Smoke
Where There’s Smoke, created by Lance Weiler (aka culturehacker), is an evolving public artwork that serves as an inspirational case study in how emerging technologies can amplify emotional storytelling and participatory artwork.
This latest iteration, staged at RLWindow on the High Line in partnership with Ryan Lee Gallery, transforms the window space into a large-scale narrative collage — a fusion of memoir, grief ritual, participatory art, and decentralized technology. The installation evolves over time, shaped by contributions from the public and anchored by two live collage performances during its run from September 2nd to December 20th.
The window becomes a memory portal — part document, part grief ritual.
PUBLIC INTERACTION
Visitors to the High Line can participate by texting a number displayed in the window. Their moderated reflections are woven into the physical collage and inscribed onto the Solana blockchain, functioning as a kind of digital tombstone — a poetic gesture that links loss, memory, and permanence in the digital age.
BLOCKCHAIN INTEGRATION
The blockchain infrastructure of Where There’s Smoke is made possible through a partnership with the Solana Foundation, leveraging the speed, sustainability, and creative flexibility of the Solana network. Previous iterations have included:
A 3,000 sq ft immersive installation that generated data for a drop on Code Canvas
Performative mints at Lincoln Center, Portland Art Museum, and Art Basel Miami during the Solana Art Residency
This is an example of what prototyping can create. Hopeful its path to spark yours. Watch it evolve. Learn from it. Let it inspire what you make next.
Decentralized Futures
is a collaboration between
Columbia DSL & the Solana Foundation