Mystical Anarchism is the title for an ongoing project that developed out of an initial collaboration between artist Clodagh Emoe and the philosopher Simon Critchley in 2009. The process began with an unauthorized midnight lecture in Glendalough, Co. Wicklow. Over one hundred people gathered together on a custom-made mat (measuring 17 metres x 7 metres) to hear Critchley’s invocation of the Movement of the Free Spirit in his lecture focusing on the writings of the 14th century mystic Marguerite Porete. Mystical Anarchism has since incorporated a film produced between 2009 and 2011, a series of screenings/events performed throughout 2012 and now this installation as Clodagh Emoe’s contribution to Sleepwalkers.

The museum can offer a space for reflection and contemplation and Emoe’s installation is presented as a way of continuing her consideration of art as thought. As part of Sleepwalkers, Mystical Anarchism seeks to enhance the process of thought through reflection and imagination by offering the mat used at the original gathering in Glendalough in a space for quiet contemplation alongside the film of Simon Critchley’s lecture.