End Credits

Stichting Praemium Erasmianum has awarded artist film-maker Steve McQueen the Erasmus Prize 2026. This is the European Premiere of the live performance of Steve McQueen's End Credits (2012-2022), following a sell out run at The Shed, NY earlier this autumn.

Centering on the FBI’s files on legendary African American singer and political activist Paul Robeson, End Credits (2012-2022) features a continuous projection of digitally scanned files from the thousands of declassified, though highly redacted, documents kept on Robeson and his wife, Eslanda Goode Robeson.
For this special presentation four performers will read live sections from Robeson’s FBI files. Through meticulous archival research, McQueen creates a work that is both historical document and urgent contemporary warning for the health of our democracy.

Paul Robeson, a civil rights legend
A successful movie star and singer since the 1930s, Robeson became increasingly committed to political and social issues. A powerful voice for social justice, Robeson was actively involved with the Civil Rights Movement in America and is considered an important symbol of the fight against fascism abroad and racism at home. In 1946, together with W.E.B DuBois and Albert Einstein, Robeson organised the National Crusade to End Lynching. His advocacy of anti-imperialism and affiliation with communism resulted in him being blacklisted by the United States government during the McCarthy era and his career as a performer was derailed. FBI documents obtained by McQueen through the Freedom of Information Act reveal that United States surveillance agencies had begun investigating Robeson as early as 1941. This scrutiny continued throughout the rest of his life, and two years beyond his death.

With thanks to:
Stichting Praemium Erasmianum
Thomas Dane Gallery
Marian Goodman Gallery
Epson