Minor Music at the End of the World
Written by Saidiya Hartman. Directed by Sarah Benson.
Featuring Andre Holland, Okwui Okpokwasili and Film by Arthur Jaffa. With artistic contributions by Precious Okyomon and Cameron Rowland.
Teatro Goldoni, Venice, 2022

Minor Music at the End of the World is a performance in three movements by writer and scholar Saidiya Hartman, directed by Sarah Benson. The work draws on Hartman's acclaimed essay The End of White Supremacy, An American Romance and a new performative text, Dead River, conceived as a ceremony of life in the wake of catastrophe. Both are informed by W.E.B. Du Bois's speculative short story The Comet (1920), which imagines the end of the world in the aftermath of a global pandemic. Combining literature, film, installation art, movement, and sound, the piece brings together a constellation of collaborating artists including Arthur Jafa, Precious Okoyomon, and Peter Born, with lead performances by André Holland and Okwui Okpokwasili.

Following its critically acclaimed world premiere at Internationaal Theater Amsterdam in October 2025, the work was presented at the Teatro Goldoni during the preview week of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, with performances on 5, 6, and 7 May 2026. The production was commissioned and presented by Hartwig Art Foundation.