An Gléacht

Outsider artist Caoimhín Breathnach (1934–2009) lived as a recluse in the Irish village of Knockvicar for all of his life. Breathnach’s artistic practice focussed on the creation of ‘subliminal’ tapes and films, which he believed possessed the capacity to shift consciousness. In these works, Ogham magickal scales, crystallography, astronomy, folklore, and natural phenomena are combined with found audio and visual material to produce an idiosyncratic and esoteric system of correspondences. Breathnach spent the last years of his life planning a film called An Gléacht. The work was to combine subliminal tapes and films with filmed footage showing a sequence of occult rituals at sites in Ireland ranging from the Hellmouth door in the Caves of Kesh to the Tobernalt holy well. In 2015, the Cork Film Festival commissioned Jennifer Walshe – Breathnach’s great-niece – to complete An Gléacht. The film has been shown worldwide with live musical accompaniment from musicians, including Okkyung Lee, David Grubbs, Toshimaru Nakamura, Martin Taxt, George Lewis, Roscoe Mitchell, Chris Heenan, Tomomi Adachi, etc.  The film An Gléacht will be a visual inspiration to live sound improvisations by Jennifer Walshe and Mario de Vega.