A concrete skyline, a domineering silhouette standing tall against a kaleidoscopic sky; an asphalt canvas that owes any pop of colour to automobiles rushing from one end to the other: what comes to mind when you think of today’s cities? The ever-expanding urban jungle evolves at a breakneck pace—a pace its inhabitants scramble to keep up with. Cities race towards the contemporary notion of a thriving ‘metropolis,’ while the people scurry, or get carried away with the tide, ultimately being at one with the bustle. Amidst what can sometimes become a disorienting blur, how often does one get a chance to take a step back and breathe—and how many urban pockets actually demand such alleviation? Is it time to rethink cities to be centred around not cars, architecture or technology, but (the spirit of) humans?

Daily tous les jours, an art and design studio based in Montréal, Canada, is amongst the pioneers working at the intersection of interactive art, storytelling, performance, and urban design. Helmed by Melissa Mongiat and Mouna Andraos, the design team shifts the paradigm of car-centric urban places towards cities fostering collective human experiences for public spaces—reinventing living together in the 21^st century. The practice contrives in cahoots with municipalities, public realm programmers, and private sector clients, bringing to life unexpected and immersive experiences of play cooperation and creativity. Roads and pavements, in lieu of being mere channels of transit, are transformed into nerve centres of interaction whilst humans (re)claim their place as the protagonists in the urban fabric. In an exclusive conversation with STIR, Melissa Mongiat, co-founder of Daily tous les jours, retraces the journey of the studio and its knack for spaces that tell stories. “Beyond scale, we also try to see how we can increase our capacity for laughter, storytelling and all that it means to be human in a public space,” she says. "At the end of the day we saw a growing importance of people from all walks of life rubbing shoulders in the places they share,” she adds.

Strange moments of collaboration for strangers

Our relationships with our neighbours and our environments have only dwindled with time, even more so with the pandemic that shoved all into isolation. Playful interaction in public spaces has the power to turn strangers into friends, but such encounters are few and far between. Founded in 2010, the award-winning studio works towards redefining the status quo, encouraging people to play an active role in the transformation of their cities by changing how they navigate and experience public spaces shared every day.

Daily tous les jours is a bilingual title that represents the prevalence of English and French in Montréal, the city where the initiative originated. “Our raw material is the everyday and tous les jour translates to every day. The source of inspiration for us is how we spend our time together in cities and that was a humbling beginning,” Mongiat tells STIR. Since its inception, the studio has endeavoured in the realm of urban development—engaging the public with ideas about mobility, resilience, social connection and civic engagement. Music, dance, storytelling, sensing, rituals and gatherings construct an enticing stage for people to take the lead while a magical performance unfolds.

Music, dance and a recital of humanness

Imagine stepping out of the house and onto the sidewalk, only for your steps to create an impromptu orchestra, the swings in the neighbourhood park making melodies together as they move to and fro, pedestrians breaking into joyful dance performances on musical pavements. Music and dance often emerge as the primary elements in the public installations by Daily tous les jours. “Music is inherently collaborative; you can do your own thing but what you are creating is something collective with the others,” Mongiat explains.

Music is a universal language that brings people together and breaks the barriers of culture, age and origins. Among the many responses music elicits in the body and mind, is dance. Through synchronicity, an aspect the design team often explores, the projects foster social connections. Installations such as Musical Swings, Musical Pavement series, Walk Walk Dance and the latest Daydreamer kinetic benches by Daily tous les jours surprise and evoke collective emotions through music and dance—breaking the ice and redefining pedestrian and public spaces one two three steps at a time.

Exchanging stories that build cities

Cities are brimming with stories, every nook and cranny holding close vestiges of forgotten conversations and adventures. Storytelling, ergo, is only an imminent tenet of the urban tapestry; Daily tous les jours recognises the beauty of it. “By listening to their tales, we can collectively write the stories to come,” the studio states in their mission. These stories become the fuel that propels the interactive installations ahead, bringing the dormant streets, alleys and vacant lots to life. When people are given the agency to mould beautiful experiences, they step outside to take ownership of their cities—bringing the focus back to being human, together. We Can Dance, a large-scale collective choreographic exercise invites people to take over the streets through dance. Wherever the artwork travels to, Daily works with local talent to create bespoke choreographies that stimulate connections between participants. Another touring interactive installation, Shade Parade, adorns the streets with oversized parasols that pedestrians can glide on—slowly moving along a rail and gathering in delightful ways.

Defying the hierarchies of senses and abilities

A culture of visual dominance is rampant in the world today. The sense of sight sits on top of the ladder of importance, with most frameworks that surround us catering to it primarily. Instead of turning a blind eye to the other senses, Daily tous les jours invites passersby to dive into a sensory treat. “Cities can become overwhelming due to this visual dominance and how one sense is more predominantly stimulated versus others. Sensory diversity is important; looking at how the body feels and what it is doing is often overlooked,” Mongiat says. Musical Shadows detects the light variations throughout the day and when cast on the interactive pavement, shadows trigger endless musical possibilities. Immersive experiences such as Eating Voices enhance the sensory journey of eating, stimulating the sense of taste and hearing in tandem.

Since most of their work is realised in public spaces, inclusivity—in terms of ability, background, or age—becomes an indispensable consideration to make. The design team continues to develop variations of their projects such as the Musical Swings to make them more accessible to people. The Musical Pavements that include interactive sensor tiles and audio tiles allow pedestrians to make music with others whether they are on foot or wheels. On being asked what qualities must a public art or installation embody, Mongiat notes, “A space needs to surprise people in their ability to do things together, that is our goal. It needs to feel inclusive, welcoming for all and safe, it needs to evolve too.”

Invisible technology cultivating daily rituals

Technology is at the heart of Daily tous les jours oeuvre, yet their projects maintain an illusion of it not being there at all—working clandestinely as the magic unravels. More and more studies highlight how humans are becoming lonelier and more isolated; most connections created today are online and through screens, but does it replace time spent together? Daily tous les jours partakes in a crusade of transforming everyday with meaning and awe—injecting profound rituals in the mundane. These unique interventions implore citizens to take the lead and have agency—in both a personal and collective experience. And it is hard to be stressed or angry when swings and benches slowly serenade you or you are gliding on an oversized parasol. Conversation between those standing close to each other becomes inevitable, participation arrives as happenstance, and before one realises, something much larger already is at play.