Daydreaming: BASE Milano’s Open Call for We Will Design 2027

Who can afford to dream? And what conditions make it possible to imagine a different future? These are the questions at the heart of Daydreaming, the theme chosen by BASE Milano for We Will Design 2027, the experimental platform that brings together projects by designers, schools, universities and international institutions each year during Fuorisalone. The new call for applications is open until 18 December 2026, inviting proposals that use design to question the present and imagine alternative ways of living together.



The theme builds on the two-year programme launched in 2026 with Hello Darkness, which explored the invisible, uncertainty and forces beyond our control. While the previous edition invited participants to venture into the darkness, Daydreaming asks what might emerge from within it. Daydreaming is understood not as an escape from reality, but as a form of shared imagination capable of challenging what we take for granted. The programme also draws on Max Haiven’s Dreaming Together (2023), which suggests that dreaming takes on a political dimension when it becomes a shared experience. Imagination, after all, does not exist independently of the conditions in which we live: our environments, languages, memories and power structures shape what we are able to desire and envision. From this perspective, design is called upon not simply to depict alternative futures, but to create the spaces, objects and relationships that make imagining them possible.



The open call is organised around five areas of exploration. Dreaming Commons approaches imagination as a collective resource, encouraging the development of shared spaces, participatory tools and projects that make the right to dream more widely accessible. Synthetic Reveries examines the boundary between desire and algorithmic prediction through speculative objects, interfaces and scenarios that challenge the logic of optimisation. Other Ecologies focuses on existing relationships between people, places, materials and non-human forms of life, exploring new approaches to coexistence and care. With Soft Revolution, the focus shifts to the body, intimacy and desire, investigating how objects, environments and technologies shape our experiences and relationships. Finally, Nightswimming explores the night as a space for experimentation through performance, sound, movement, light, temporary architecture and club culture.

As in previous editions, We Will Design serves as a laboratory for research and experimentation, offering space and visibility to prototypes, works in progress and emerging practices. The programme extends beyond Design Week itself, unfolding throughout the year through residencies, collaborations and collective projects.