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An Excavation
by Maeve Brennan
2022, 20’21’
Presented at the 16th edition of Lo schermo dell’arte, 2023
Film part of VISIO – European Programme on Artists’ Moving Images 12th edizione, 2023
Maeve Brennan “An Excavation” (2022) film still. Commissioned by Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston University.
The artist documents an investigation into a series of looted vases, discovered at Geneva Freeport in 2014. Made in the 4th century BC by Apulian artisans, these vases remained buried in tombs for 2500 years before they were clandestinely brought to light. The objects’ journeys through the hands of looters, smugglers, restorers and dealers are counterpointed by the hand-painted stories that adorn them.
The practice of Maeve Brennan (1990, UK. Lives and works in London) explores the historical and political resonance of material and place. Working across moving image, installation, sculpture and printed matter, her works excavate layered histories, revealing the unseen or hidden structures that determine our lived environment.
She graduated from Goldsmiths in 2012 and was a fellow at Ashkal Alwan – The Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts, Beirut, in 2013-14. She is associate lecturer at Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths, London. Currently, she is in residence at Somerset House Studios, London.
Brennan’s solo and group exhibitions include: E-WERK, Freiburg; Stanley Picker Gallery ,London; Chisenhale Gallery , London; The Whitworth, University of Manchester; Spike Island, Bristol; Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin; Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, Turku, Finland; Kunsthaus Bregenz Austria; Neue Galerie Innsbruck; Pera Museum Istanbul; Mediterranea 19 Biennial,San Marino. Her films have been screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam, CPH:DOX, Copenhagen, Sheffield DocFest, and FILMADRID among other festivals.
She graduated from Goldsmiths in 2012 and was a fellow at Ashkal Alwan – The Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts, Beirut, in 2013-14. She is associate lecturer at Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths, London. Currently, she is in residence at Somerset House Studios, London.
Brennan’s solo and group exhibitions include: E-WERK, Freiburg; Stanley Picker Gallery ,London; Chisenhale Gallery , London; The Whitworth, University of Manchester; Spike Island, Bristol; Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin; Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, Turku, Finland; Kunsthaus Bregenz Austria; Neue Galerie Innsbruck; Pera Museum Istanbul; Mediterranea 19 Biennial,San Marino. Her films have been screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam, CPH:DOX, Copenhagen, Sheffield DocFest, and FILMADRID among other festivals.