Performance venues don't get any more intimate than this. Folk in a Box provides just enough space for a single musician to play to an audience of one.
Above: photograph is by Sakiko Kohashi
The mobile wooden venue was designed by London architect Cristina Monteiro to be easily dismantled and reassembled in different locations.
An arched doorway on the front provides an entrance for the spectator, while an arched stable door at the back serves as both a whiskey bar and the stage door.
Built by artisan carpenters, the box features a patterned exterior that makes it look like a staircase is positioned in front of it.
Other mobile buildings we've featured on Dezeen include a disco caravan and an armoured cabin.
Photography is by David Knight, apart from where otherwise stated.
The text below is from the Folk in a Box team:
Folk in a Box
Architect Cristina Monteiro has designed and delivered a unique one-on-one performance venue for an acclaimed musical collective.
‘Folk in a Box’ is the UK’s smallest performance venue. One audience member is allowed in at a time. The door is closed behind them. They are given one song, performed by one musician. By the time the song is the over, the musician is just about visible in the darkness and intimacy of the box. The experience is compelling.
In earlier incarnations, the Folk in a Box project has featured at Tate Britain, the Royal Festival Hall, and Battersea Arts Centre, plus a host of music festivals and street-corner appearances. The new, high-spec and easily assembledbox has been made ready for a tour of the UK later in 2012.
The box is designed to feel familiar yet strange in a wide variety of places, from living rooms to high streets. It’s not quite sure if it’s a building or furniture, new or old.
Client: Folk in a Box
Designer: Cristina Monteiro
Construction: Aldworth James & Bond
Project funded by the Joyce Carr Doughty Trust with the support of BAC.
