The Big House Made of Sound

‘The Big House Made of Sound’ demonstrates an artistic research methodology developed by artist and researcher Joseph Young. Since 2016, Young has been engaged in a series of site-specific interventions using geo-located sound to add layers of complexity to our understanding of historic sites and contested histories.

The Irish Big House is a remnant of British colonial rule, when a vast network of houses marked a visible presence of the Anglo-Irish landowning classes in the landscape. Many of them did not survive the war for independence and of those that did, only a handful are still maintained by their 'original families'. Their presence in the 21st century can therefore be understood as a haunting reminder of a recent past whilst pointing towards an ongoing entanglement between the Irish and British states which was further complicated by the Brexit vote in 2016.

Young hails from the UK and completed his PhD in Ireland as artist-in-residence at Killruddery House in County Wicklow, in 2023, creating a hauntological sound trail ‘The Ancestors’ which re-imagined visitors’ smartphones as a modern day dowsing tool for archival spectres imagined to be roaming the estate.

In 2026, Young returns to Ireland to research the archives of Annes Grove in County Cork, as part of a postdoctoral research project supported by Research Ireland, where he will use song, sonic sculpture and enchantment to address the women of the archive, whose voices in a patrilineal inheritance system often go unheard.

This experimental presentation will utilise audio geo-location in public spaces to allow conference attendees to directly experience some of his works, alongside a performative lecture format which will detail a making process with soundwalking at its heart, whilst showing how artistic research methodologies can interact with critical heritage practice to reimagine the Big House as a dreamlike and otherworldly storehouse of narrative, poetic commentary and memory.