In Two Minutes to Midnight, Yael Bartana imagines a world on the brink of collapse, reconfigured through the lens of possibility. Set within a “Peace Room” (modeled after the “War Room” in Stanley Kubrik’s film Dr. Strangelove), the film gathers an all-women government—composed of both actors and real-life experts—to confront the threat of nuclear war. Through a blend of scripted and unscripted dialogue, Yael probes the mechanics of deterrence, the seduction of power, and the fragility of peace. Referencing the Doomsday Clock, the work serves as both warning and proposition: a meditation on leadership, responsibility, and the futures we might still be able to make.

The work was jointly acquired by the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, 2023.