MILAN.- A cultural centre populated by inflatable installations and giant flowers, hosting rooftop campsites, and gathering Italian and international performers and designers on the occasion of the Design Week in Milan: BASE Milano is looking forward to presents WE WILL DESIGN, the program that since 2021 promotes the best of architectural research and design experimentation from around the world. This year’s edition is titled The Convivial Laboratory, and it invites the public to reflect on the most innovative practices of coexistence, cohabitation, and sharing.

Alongside the installations TALAMO by Lemonot and FLOWAIR by Ingo Maurer, and the residency projects Convivial Laboratory – the Camp and Temporary Home, BASE will host projects by 29 artists and designers in its area EXHIBIT. The program is made possible by the collaboration with STIMULERINGS FONDS / CREATIVE INDUSTRIES FUND NL and Italian and international universities and academies.

Participants include Agora du Design, a French association that every two years, with the support of the French Design Granted, selects two projects for the Design Research Grant and one for the Design Exhibition Grant. This year, BASE will present the winners of the 2021 edition: Marine Rouit-Leduc will introduce her project, which explores colours in the visual spectrum; Hors-studio (Rebecca Fezard and Elodie Michaud) will show their research on ways to recycle waste materials; and Emma Pflieger and Antoine Fœglé will present their installation, Keep It Flat, which collects artefacts associated with flat earth theories.

The collaboration with the Eindhoven-based cultural centre for arts and design, Onomatopee, culminated in The Body is a Movement, a gym-workshop aimed to develop connection between one's own body and those of others via acceptance, celebration, and sharing. The Embassy and Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands supported the initiative, which was organised in partnership with Baltan Laboratories.

Along with this, Laura Papke and Nino Basilashvili will set up a sensory installation on heartbeats, Yeon Sung will present a work on pollution in the Maasvlakte industrial zone, Dóra Léhy and Qiaochu Guo will invite the public to rediscover the relationship between their bodies and space.

Additionally, the Canadian collective Architects Against Housing Alienation (AAHA), active since 2021, will take part in the event with Not for Sale! A Dialogue between c\a\n\a\d\a and Italy - the collective will create a space for debate and conversation between pairs of activists, architects, and promoters addressing the theme of housing in the city of Milan, with the purpose of sharing ideas and experiences between Canada and Italy.

The exhibition will also include works by Ilaria Cavaglià, Tin Ayala, Giulia Del Gobbo, Ingrid Enache, Yufei Gao, Lison Guéguen, Berta Grau Sánchez, Elle Hey e Ildoppiosegno Design Studio, Femke Hoppenbrouwer, Sakshi Jain, Bhavneet Kaur, Liana Kuyumcuyan, Ziyi Lian, MTMY, Rosalie Piras, Matteo Proietti, Kasia Rachuba, Claudia Rao Hackett, SO, T12 Lab, Sintetica Collettivo, First Last Name.

Alongside the exhibition, BASE Milano promotes a festival featuring music events, entertainment, and talks, connecting Italian and international organisations.
Eccentrico – a project by Galileo s.r.l., a company specialized in the production and marketing of Italian ceramics – joins forces with the independent Milanese bookstore NOI Libreria, transforming the space of BASE's bookshop into an immersive experience.
Furthermore, in collaboration with DOPO(?) collective, the program includes a live broadcast from BASE's terrace and from the Campsite set up for 20 emerging designers - hosted by Elevator Radio (https://elevatorradio.network/), the radio network entirely run by students of the Design Academy Eindhoven. The broadcast will be an experimental platform for the voices of the student community which will be hosted in Milan throughout the Design Week.

From Tuesday, April 16th to Saturday, April 20th, from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM, Design and Music combine in an exceptional cocktail: We Will Design MUSIC — Courtyard Designed by Campari Soda*, the outdoor musical line-up arranged by Campari Soda and BASE, curated by Le Cannibale.

Five evenings, live sets, and special performances will include the most renowned Milanese and international DJs and collectives from the contemporary music scene, transforming the courtyard into a land of experimental sounds.

Le Cannibale's music showcase will continue on Friday and Saturday after 11:00 p.m. with two events showcasing some of the top international electronic artists: Skee Mask + Hiroko Hacci on the 19th and Dekmantel Soundsystem + Fabio Monesi on the 20th.