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GAUNT
Institute of Contemporary Arts
A medieval helmet sitting on a sleek grey floor. A face is reflected in the metal.
Image: Jack Warne

Alongside the release of debut album Blind at The Age of Four, GAUNT presents a live spatial audio show performed in complete darkness using the ICA’s newly installed d&b Soundscape system.

The event’s darkened setting reflects Jack Warne aka GAUNT’s experience with a rare eye condition, Thiel-Behnke Corneal Dystrophy (TBCD). ‘I’ll wake up in the middle of the night, and if I open my eyes too quickly, I can rip the cells, they tear off, and I’ll go blind,’ he explains of the hereditary dystrophy he’s experienced since he was a child. The condition led to a young GAUNT spending weeks at a time in bed, in complete darkness, and ultimately first connecting to music with his late father – a key figure throughout the album, who also suffered from TBCD.

Blind at The Age of Four is the first full-scale entry into the anachronistic world of GAUNT – a realm of music, technological experimentation and visual art, all bound together in his character’s digitally rendered suit of armour. ‘GAUNT is the empty vessel,’ the producer and artist explains of his simultaneously modern and medieval avatar. ‘The GAUNT character is the haunting of the music. It’s a visual embodiment of the cathartic process I get out of music. That's why it’s a suit of armour, because something needs to go into it; you put it on.’

The show will be mixed live by Loss_._Gain, a leading spatial audio company that has been pushing the boundaries in this space with artists such as Hannah Peel, Jarvis Cocker, Anna Meredith, Duval Timothy, Gruff Rhys, Gazelle Twin, Lump, Oliver Coates, Sigur Rós, John Foxx, Rival Consoles, Jonsi & Alex, Luke Abbott and Cosmo Sheldrake.

Presented by dollop.
Last month GAUNT aka Jack Warne announced debut album Blind at The Age of Four (18 August via his own label 3ON), with lead single ‘Sweet’ receiving widespread support from BBC DJs Mary Anne Hobbs, Tom Ravenscroft, Deb Grant and Elizabeth Alker.

As a fine artist Jack Warne has worked with galleries and institutions internationally such as Hannah Barry Gallery, Spiaggia Libera, YUELAI Art Museum, Collective Ending and Castor Gallery.
 
Tickets to 8pm show here

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A pair of tall medieval boots standing alone on a sleek grey floor