Absence
The Anthropocene Project. An Encyclopedia
Nulla poena sine lege. Courts sometimes pronounce sentences in the absence of the defendant, even declare death penalties: as long as a law defines a crime, it can be legally prosecuted. But what if there is a lack of witnesses or evidence and the crime cannot be proven? Crimes where the damage has long been done? Let us not imagine this along the lines of Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report, where “precrimes”, crimes that have not yet been committed, are prosecuted. But preferably, imagine a future Fifth Geneva Convention of Human Rights, that will allow new evidence and establish new international laws. Or indulge in the thought of a truly romantic absence; after machines and prostheses have taken up the work of humans. If you dare to, dream of human absence from Planet Earth. While we might start to fear absence, we confront it in the conversation of the Anthropocene.
More information in the media section
HKW Talk on the Anthropocene. With Eyal Weizman, Curator of Forensis and Bernd M. Scherer
Forensics and Human Rights Abuse. Wolfgang Kaleck in conversation with Anselm Franke
Is the Anthropocene... A Doomsday Device? Dialogue between Cary Wolfe and Claire Colebrook
History on an expanded canvas. Keynote Dipesh Chakrabarty
