Encyclopedia

The Anthropocene Project. An Encyclopedia

An encyclopedia promises quick access and a generally comprehensible overview of the knowledge of a period. In the face of the controversially discussed Anthropocene with all of its contradictions and the rapid speed with which knowledge is produced and again discarded, an encyclopedia is doomed to fail. The reference work fixes handed down, established knowledge, is caught up in the disciplines and authorities, its authoritative tone can hardly accommodate the endless mixing of voices and actors, global and conceptual processes in the Anthropocene, and is hopelessly outdated, even as it is being written, even in its online version. For an encyclopedia of the Anthropocene, all that remains is methodical productive failure in light of its generally boring overall tone and categorical stringency. With the courage to allow for more authors and for other knowledge: the knowledge of animals, machines, and oceans. A plea to fail better, with curiosity and poetry and without fear of the discourse jungle.