Maeve Brennan is an artist and filmmaker based in London. Her practice explores the social, 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 structures that shape contemporary life.

Recent and forthcoming presentations of her work include: Tai Kwun Contemporary (HK) Barbican Centre (UK) The High Line (NYC), Somerset House (UK), Tate Britain (UK), MAXXI Museum (IT) Kettle’s Yard (UK) VISUAL Carlow (IE) The Whitworth (UK) Lentos Kunstmuseum (AUT) Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (DE) E-WERK Freiburg (DE) British Art Show 9 (UK) Stanley Picker Gallery (UK); Mother’s Tankstation (IE); Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art (FI); Chisenhale Gallery (UK) and Spike Island (UK).

She was shortlisted for the Jarman Award (2024). She was awarded the Sainbury Scholarship, British School of Rome (2023), the Stanley Picker Fine Art Fellowship (2019-22), the Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists (2021) and the Jerwood/FVU Award (2018).

Maeve is in residence at Somerset House Studios and her films are distributed by LUX.

E-mail: [email protected]
Film distrubtion: [email protected]

Current / Forthcoming

2025 RECORDS, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (solo exhibition)
Echoes from the Vault, The High Line, New York
New:Vision Competition, CPH:DOX, Copenhagen
Opening Night, Open City Documentary Festival, Barbican Centre, London
Illicit Antiquities in the Museum, Aarhus Museum of Ancient Art & Archaeology, Denmark
Genius Loci: Notes on Places, Kunstverein Ludswighafen, Germany

Solo Exhibitions

2023 An Excavation, Visual Carlow, Ireland
Horses and Angels, Gallery for Contemporary Art, E-WERK Freiburg, Germany

2022 An Excavation, Stanley Picker Gallery, London

2020 Jerusalem Pink, Copperfield Gallery, London

2019 Listening in the Dark, Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art in Turku, Finland

2018 The Goods, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria
Jerwood/FVU: Unintended Consequences, The Edge, University of Bath (duo)
Listening in the Dark, Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin
The Drift, Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore
Jerwood/FVU: Unintended Consequences, Jerwood Space, London (duo)

2017 The Drift, The Whitworth, University of Manchester
The Drift, Spike Island, Bristol
The Drift, Chisenhale Gallery, London

2016 Jerusalem Pink, OUTPOST, Norwich

2013 Beit Iksa Boys, The Institute of Jamais Vu, London

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025 SOIL: The World at our Feet, Somerset House, London

2024 The Life of Things, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Austria
Truth to Nature, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
Landscape Studies, Akeroyd Collection (curated by Róisín Tapponi)
A Yellow Sun, A Green Sun, MAXXI Museum, Roma (curated by Chiara Ianeselli)
Material Power, The Whitworth, Manchester

2023 Material Power, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
Broken in Three Places (duo show with Sophie Jung), AplusA Gallery, Venice
On the Meaning of Gossip, British School at Rome
An Excavation (One Work), LUX Scotland
Notes for Tomorrow, The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz

2022 British Art Show 9, The Levinsky Gallery, Plymouth
Notes for Tomorrow, Majorie Barrick Museum of Art, Las Vegas
Notes for Tomorrow, Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland
Simple Truths, Newlyn Exchange (Arts Council Collection)
Adaptation, Kelder Projects, London
Archives of Resistance and Repair, Neue Galerie, Innsbruck
Notes for Tomorrow, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
Notes for Tomorrow, TheCube Project Space, Taipei

2021 Mediterranea 19 Biennial, San Marino
British Art Show 9, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen
Notes for Tomorrow, Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, China
Inside the Outset, Point Centre for Contemporary Art, Cyprus
Notes for Tomorrow, Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Philadelphia
Notes for Tomorrow, Contemporary Calgary, Calgary
I should be doing something else right now, Gallery 31, Somerset House, London
Towner International Biennial, Towner Eastbourne

2020 The Drift, Chisenhale Gallery and Spike Island (online)
Precious Things (programmed by Rita Atkay), Pi ARTWORKS, London

2019 The Life of Things, VOX Centre, MOMENTA Biennale de l’image, Montreal
Spring Programme, Cample Line, Dumfries and Galloway
A Visibility Matrix by Sven Anderson & Gerard Byrne, Void, Derry
A Visibility Matrix by Sven Anderson & Gerard Byrne, Secession, Vienna

2018 A Visibility Matrix by Sven Anderson & Gerard Byrne, Le Printemps de Septembre, Toulouse
Jerusalem Pink, Cample Line, Dumfries and Galloway
A Visibility Matrix by Sven Anderson & Gerard Byrne, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin
Hmn14, organised by Anne Tallentire and Chris Fite-Wassilak
Labour of Love, The Palestinian Museum, Birzeit
Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo

2017 Rare Minerals, Abandon Normal Devices, Peak District

2016 ‘At the Seams’ Symposium, The Palestinian Museum (Qalandiya International), Birzeit
Mashrou’ Prolekult, American University of Beirut Art Gallery, Beirut
At the Seams: A Political History of Palestinian Embroidery, Dar el-Nimer, Beirut 
Rough House (Glasgow International), Glue Factory, Glasgow

2015 Kurz | Dust | غبار, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw

2014 A Museum of Immortality, curated by Anton Vidokle and Boris Groys, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut
Whistling, Workshop Gallery, Beirut

2013 Interim, Zico House, Beirut
Tooth Travel Award Exhibition, Goldsmiths, University of London

2012 Members Show, OUTPOST, Norwich
Once more with feeling (collaboration with Ruth Ewan), Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, Toronto
Goldsmiths BA Art Practice Degree Show, Goldsmiths, University of London
Group Show, HBFK, Hamburg

Screenings

2025 History Reverberates, Tate Britain, London

2024 Jarman Award screening and in conversation with Erika Balsom, Whitechapel Gallery
Jarman Award screening and in conversation with Sam Kaufman, Towner International
Jarman Award tour, Nottingham Contemporary
Jarman Award tour, LUX Scotland, Glasgow
Jarman Award tour, Barbican Centre, London
Jarman Award tour, Spike Island, Bristol
Jarman Award tour, g39, Cardiff
CIRCA Prize, Piccadilly Circus
The Parliament of Marmots, Biennale Gherdeina 9, Bolzano, Italy
Underworlds: Sites and Struggles of Global Dis/Ordering, LSE, London
Woven Histories, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
The Embroiderers, Peckham Craft Show, London
An Excavation with Dr Christos Tsirogiannis, IGRCT, Bristol University
Jerusalem Pink, LUX, London

2023 Stories of Stones, Villa Medici, Rome
The Drift & A State in a State, Sinema Transtopia, Berlin
Magic Lantern Film Festival, Palazzo delle Esposizione, Rome
On Coloniality and Extractive Archaeology, Darat al Fanun, Jordan
Double Feature, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt
New:Vision Award Competition, CPH:DOX, Copenhagen

2022 An Excavation, Open City Documentary Festival, London
Critters, Crisis Cinema, Vienna
(Im)material Worlds, Sands International Film Festival, St Andrews
(Im)material Worlds, LUX Scotland

2021 Film Exposed, Art Exchange, Essex

2020 Formworks, Thkio Ppalies, Cyprus
Private Links (programmed by Felix Kalmenson), Budka, Tbilisi

2019 Field Recordings, WORM, Rotterdam
Hyperworlds, DEMO: Deptford Moving Image Festival, London
CAST Film Club, CAST, Cornwall
Listening in the Dark/Curupira, LOM Kino, Slovakia
Sonic Acts Festival, Amsterdam

2018 New/Lebanon, Sheffield Doc Fest 2018, Sheffield
Official Competition, FILMADRID, Madrid
The Theory of Concentric Spheres, Resonate Festival, The Centre for Contemporary Art, Belgrade
Ammodo Tiger Shorts Competition, International Film Festival Rotterdam

2017 Reel Palestine Film Festival, Dubai

2016 November Film Festival, Goldsmiths, University of London

2015 Video Works 2015 (funded by Ashkal Alwan), Metropolis Empire Sofil, Beirut
Pipperoo, Pippera Pipperum…The Rest is Rot, ALFILM Arab Film Festival, Berlin
2nd Annual Alwan 3rd i Awards, Alwan for the Arts, New York

2013 Edinburgh Art Festival Film Club, Inspace, Edinburgh
Artist Film Screening, Generator Projects, Dundee

2012 21st Century: Recent Graduate Screening, Chisenhale Gallery, London

Grants/Awards

2025 New:Vision Award (shortlist), CPH:DOX, Copenhagen

2024 Shortlisted for Jarman Award 2024, UK
Shortlisted for CIRCA Prize 2024
The Elephant Trust Grant

2023 VISIO European Programme on Artist Moving Image (shortlist), Florence
New:Vision Award (shortlist), CPH:DOX, Copenhagen

2022 Sainsbury Scholarship, British School at Rome

2021 Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists

2020 Thinking Time, Artangel
Emergency Grant, Arts Council England
Develop Your Creative Practice, Arts Council England

2019 Stanley Picker Fine Art Fellowship 2019–22
The Elephant Trust Grant

2018 Somerset House Studios X King’s College London, Research Grant
Shortlisted for Ammodo Tiger Shorts, International Film Festival Rotterdam

2017 Shortlisted for The Arts Foundation 25th Anniversary Awards
Jerwood/FVU Award 2018: Unintended Consequences

2016 Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England
AFAC, Visual Arts Grant for The Drift with Spike Island
Nigel Greenwood Research Award

2015 Beit Iksa Boys shortlisted in Short Films category, Alwan 3rd i Awards, New York

2014 Video Works, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut

2012 Nicolas and Andrei Tooth Travelling Scholarship, Goldsmiths, University of London

2011 Hamad Butt Memorial Prize, Goldsmiths, University of London

Selected Press / Writing

2025 SOIL: The World at Our Feet, Colin Perry, Art Monthly
The Politics of the ‘Hyper-Pastoral’, Rose Higham-Stainton, Art Review

2024 Full of Missing Links, Maria Palacios Cruz, Film London
Listening in the Dark, Steven Bode, FVU Online
Hacked Gameboys and Horseplay!, Tim Jonze, The Guardian
Landscape Studies, Roisin Tapponi, Akeroyd Collection
An Excavation, Ella de Búrca, Visual Artists Ireland

2023 Empty, Craig Martin, Lux Scotland

2022 Atypical Notations, Ektoras Arkomanis, New Artist in Focus: Lux

2021 British Art Show 9 Brings Eclecticism to a Pandemic-Stricken UK, Sean Burns, Frieze

2020 These are the ascendant artists you need to watch, Ravi Ghosh, Elephant Magazine

2019 The Archaeological Turn, Felice Moramarco, Nero Editions
The World from the Bat’s Perspective by Heli Peltoniemi, Turun Sanomat

2018 Maeve Brennan puts out a bat-signal by Nathan O’Donnell, Apollo Magazine
Pick of the Week by Louise Darblay, Art Review
Why are Artist Filmmakers Turning to Landscape? by Erika Balsom, Frieze
Maeve Brennan, Floorr Magazine
Unintended Consequences by Anya Smirnova, This is Tomorrow

2017 Maeve Brennan, The Drift at Chisenhale Gallery by Caroline Douglas, Contemporary Art Society
Maeve Brennan: The Drift by Bobby Jewell, This is Tomorrow
The Drift by Ned Carter Miles, Art Asia Pacific
Review by Lewis Church, Hackney Citizen
The Reality-Based Community by Erika Balsom, E-flux Journal
Maeve Brennan: The Drift by Henry Broome, Studio International
Interview with Polly Staple, Something Curated
10 Art Exhibitions to see this April by Binita Naik, Royal Academy of Arts
Frieze Bulletin: On View, Frieze
Maeve Brennan/Chisenhale Gallery by William Kherbek, Samizdat
This week’s best art, Time Out
The Drift by Meadhbh McNutt, Tank Magazine
Frieze Playlist: Maeve Brennan, Frieze
Critic’s Guide: London by Orit Gat, Frieze
Critic’s Picks by Philomena Epps, ArtForum
Review by Mary Pelletier, Apollo Magazine
Unearthing Narratives, Aesthetica
Old Bimmas & Ancient Ruins in Lebanon by Iona Goulder, Amuse
Review by Richard Martin, Burlington Magazine
Maeve Brennan: Profile by Isobel Harbison, feature and cover in Art Monthly
Review by Louise Darblay, Art Review
One Take: Maeve Brennan’s The Drift by Harry Thorne, feature in Frieze
Portfolio, Modern Painters
Calendar, Burlington Magazine

2015 Future Greats selected by Phillip Lai, Art Review

Publications

2025 Underworlds: Sites and Struggles of Global Dis/Ordering, LSE International Studies (forthcoming)

2021 New Cinema and the City: Migrations, Cours de Poetique, London

2019 Artist’s Moving Image in Britain Since 1989, Yale University Press

2018 Third Text: Ethico-Aesthetic Repairs (Vol 32, 2018), Routledge, London

2015 How to work together: Sharna Pax, commissioned Chisenhale Gallery, The Showroom, Studio Voltaire

2014 A Dialogue on Marginal Geology, with Miguel Fernandez de Castro, supported by Ashkal Alwan, Beirut