The ghost of Tibor Kalman, whose tenure at the helm of Colors Magazine revitalized and re-appropiated the language of commercial graphics for social change, seems eerily present behind the creative campaign of Dropping Knowledge. Like a Zen koan, Dropping Knowledge is part playful pun, part serious business. We drop a dime like anonymous tipsters to the cosmic dharma police on nonsensical, idiotic social practices, and we download knowledge like hidden viruses inside protein shell ad phrases.

The project is part of a trend of participatory new media, utilizing the Web as an instantaneous democratic medium. In this case site users can upload questions, which then get translated into ads, films and commercials. The more successful combination of images and words have built in paradoxes that get us thinking the way that riddles scramble our rational minds. Ideally these should be ready for meme deployment. That is, I’d like to see ready-made code available so people can easily drop Dropping Knowledge onto their iPods, P2Ps, and into emails. Thankfully the movies are in Quicktime format so they are easy to download, but I’d still like to see viral marketing strategies in place. But… it’s a nice start. I look forward to more idea infections.

“Tibor Kalman, Perverse Optimist” (Peter Hall, Michael Bierut)

“Colors : Tibor Kalman, Issues 1-13″ (Tibor Kalman, Maira Kalman)