AN GLÉACHT (2015)

AN GLÉACHT by Caoimhín Breathnach & Jennifer Walshe

Outsider artist Caoimhín Breathnach (1934-2009) lived as a recluse in Knockvicar, Co. Roscommon 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 & natural phenomena are combined with found audio and visual material to produce an idiosyncratic, 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. For the 2015 Cork Film Festival, Breathnach’s great-niece, the composer and artist Jennifer Walshe was commissioned to complete “AN GLÉACHT”. The film was screened accompanied by a live musical accompaniment from musicians Panos Ghikas, Nick Roth, M.C. Schmidt (Matmos) and Jennifer Walshe on Friday 13th November 2015.

The Aisteach Foundation hosts information relating to Breathnach's life, including recordings and ephemera which can be accessed here.