The Miniscule of Sound is a performance given in a small wooden structure described as "The World's Smallest Niteclub". It was devised in Hackney,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, in 1998 as a parody of established superclubs, with the name referring to the

Ministry of Sound Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publishing business and fitness studio. James ...

. This led to representatives from the Ministry of Sound considering legal action, though in following communications an amicable agreement was reached. DJ magazines reported on this incident (e.g. Carl Loben's article for DJ Mag). It has been defined as a theatre performance piece by the British Council. The 'niteclub' itself takes the form of a prefabricated wooden construction that is transported to venues, set up and operated as a small nightclub. The performers take the role of the staff, acting as the disc jockeys,

bouncers A bouncer (also known as a doorman or door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, stripclubs, casinos, hotels, billiard halls, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, ...

, bar staff and cloakroom staff. In keeping with the parody of a real night club, the bouncers operate an idiosyncratic and opaque door policy, refusing entry to some visitors(for example refusing to let DJ

Fat Boy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...

play until he'd sent in a demo tape). The construction occupies an area of 4 feet (1.2 metres) by 8 feet (2.4 m) with a dance floor of 2 square metres. It had its first performance in August 1998 originally in the changing booth of a disused outdoor swimming pool,

London Fields London Fields is a park in Hackney, London, although the name also refers to the immediate area in Hackney surrounding it and London Fields station. It is common land adjoining the Hackney Central area of the London Borough of Hackney. The p ...

Lido in Hackney, and has since performed at a wide variety of events, predominantly at music festivals, including

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

(UK),

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(Japan), and the Big Day Out (Australia). The Miniscule of Sound has been operated both in its own right (e.g. representing British culture in China for the British Council in 2005 ), and also participating as a

sideshow In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. Types There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions: *The Ten-in-One offers a program of ten seq ...

at larger events. Originally it performed in local events in Hackney, east London, growing from the squat and rave party scene, with originators active in these subcultures and connected to similar artistic performance groups such as the

Mutoid Waste Company The Mutoid Waste Company are a performance arts group founded in London, England by Joe Rush and Robin Cooke in collaboration with Alan P Scott and Joshua Bowler. It started in the early 1980s, emerging from Frestonia's 'Car Breaker Gallery'. The ...

. In 2000

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

named it the "Smallest mobile nightclub", a record it held until 2010, when the record passed to "Rumors".

References

External links

*
Guinness entry for "Smallest Nightclub"

at

Sina Corp Sina Corporation (, "new wave") is a Chinese technology company. Sina operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, Sina Mobile, Sina Online, and Sinanet. Sina has over 100 million registered users worldwide. Sina was recognized by '' Southe ...

{{coord, 51, 32, 34.31, N, 0, 03, 40.29, W, dim:200_scale:2000_region:GB-LND_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Nightclubs in London Event venues established in 1998 1998 establishments in England