Dropping Knowledge (styled "dropping knowledge") is a non-profit organization in theUnited States andGermany. In the US,Dropping Knowledge International is a project of theTides Center, a non-profit fiscal sponsor and registered501(c)3. In Germany,Dropping Knowledge e.V. is anEingetragener Verein. Both organizations aim to foster discussion of the world's social and environmental problems. Founded in the US in 2003, the organization hosted a large discussion in Berlin on September 9, 2006.[1]
The organization was founded byGerman filmmakerRalf Schmerberg, American filmmaker Cindy Gantz, and American activist Jackie Wallace, originally as a response to theIraq War, but from its inception aimed to be more than a mere "anti-movement":[2] dropping knowledge became an interactive platform for questions, concerns and initiatives from around the world, as well as a meeting place for concerned world citizens striving to turn apathy into action.[3]
The nine-hour discussion, namedThe Table of Free Voices and overseen byGerman Foreign MinisterFrank-Walter Steinmeier, used a large round table on theBebelplatz in Berlin. 112 international artists, philosophers, scientists and human rights activists were invited to simultaneously answer 100 selected questions, recorded by 112 cameras and microphones.[3] The questions had been collected on the organization's website beginning in September 2005. The questions were read out loud by moderatorsHafsat Abiola andWillem Dafoe.[4] Prominent participants includedCornel West,Bianca Jagger,Hans-Peter Dürr,John Gage,Bill Joy,Harry Wu andWim Wenders.
Transcripts and videos were later released on the project's website under acopyleft license, organized in a "Living Library" developed by theDeutsche Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz inSaarbrücken (German Research Institute forArtificial Intelligence).[5]
The cost of the event was 5 millionEuros; initial funding came from theWallace Foundation[6] and The Mark and Sharon Bloome Fund, theAllianz insurance company contributed 2.7 million Euro in 2005,[3] andVolkswagen also made a sizable donation.[5]
dropping knowledge has also produced and is distributing several short films, all under the "dropping knowledge Copyleft License" which places some restrictions on commercial use: it forbids to use the content for commercial advertising.[7]
Ralf Schmerberg released a documentary film about the Table of Voices calledProblema, which is available to watch or download for free online. The film was directed and edited by Schmerberg and features not only selections from the 112 responses to the 100 questions, but also visual footage from various historical, news, documentary and artistic sources.[8] Some of the visual footage included scenes from the films ofSergei Eisenstein,Godfrey Reggio,Abel Gance,Alain Resnais,Mohsen Makhmalbaf,Guy Debord, andFritz Lang.[9]
