Set in the Apulia region of southern Italy, Siticulosa, 2025 (45min) is part of an ongoing body of work by artist Maeve Brennan, which focuses on the global trade in illicit antiquities. The film unfolds through a series of interviews with individuals including a biodynamic farmer, an art historian and a forensic archaeologist, each with a distinct relationship to the land and the objects buried within it.
It traverses a parched landscape of caves and looted tombs, evoking a consideration of the relationship between archaeology, geology and ecology. Siticulosa is a study of a territory, its past and present, and the people who inhabit it.
Maeve Brennan is a London-based artist and filmmaker whose practice explores the social, historical and political resonance of material and place. Brennan was awarded the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists in 2025 and is the recipient of the FLAMIN Production Award 2025 for her project DEEP STORAGE. Her works have been widely exhibited, most recently at Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong, Barbican Centre, London, The High Line, New York, and Tate Britain, London.
Maeve Brennan will visit CAST to give an artist’s talk and screen her earlier work An Excavation (2022) on Thursday 23 April.