Strangers Need Strange Moments Together: 15 Years of Daily tous les jours

We crave living in environments that support us, nourish us, and inspire us. We dream of places to go through our lives together, inclusively and tolerantly. Can we re-enchant the raw material of our collective daily experiences?

This question sits at the heart of Daily tous les jours, the award-winning Montréal-based studio led by co-founders mouna andraos and Melissa Mongiat . Over the past 15 years, their interactive artworks—musical swings, singing pavements, spontaneous dance lanes—have redefined what public space can be. More than just installations, their projects operate as what one admirer called “infrastructure for the human spirit.”

In this special Futurespaces talk, hosted by Futurespaces member Brad MacDonald , Andraos and Mongiat shared highlights from their studio’s practice and gave a first glimpse into their recently published book Strangers Need Strange Moments Together. Together, they offer a joyful, rigorous blueprint for designers who want to create spaces where civic life is lived more fully—and more beautifully.

If you missed the live talk, a full recording is available online. Or read on for the complete editorial recap.

A Practice Rooted in Real Life

Founded in 2010 in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang (Montréal) and celebrating their 15th anniversary this year, Daily tous les jours began with a deceptively simple provocation: live with the times. Their first URL—livingwithourtime.org—was a nod to French poet Henri Chopin, who once observed that “new media isn’t experimental—it’s just contemporary.” That ethos has remained central to the studio’s work ever since.

Their debut project, created for Montréal’s MUTEK Festival, transformed a downtown building façade into a massive musical sequencer—activated not by apps, but by phone calls.

“We were figuring it out as we went,” Mouna recalled. “But we knew that music could be a social glue.”

This fusion of art, play, and human behavior has since evolved into a signature methodology—one that blends urban design, storytelling, and performance. Always site-specific. Always participatory.

Always asking: how can we design moments that bring us back to one another?

Projects That Make the City Sing

Spanning more than 60 cities around the world, Daily tous les jours’ work is united by a common question: what happens when we treat joy as a serious part of civic life?

Each project reimagines public space as a place not just for movement, but for meaning—a setting where strangers can meet, cooperate, and share fleeting, delightful moments. Whether through music, motion, or playful prompts, the studio designs encounters that remind us we’re not alone in the world.

Musical Swings This traveling installation invites people of all ages and backgrounds to make music with their entire body, surrending themselves unexpectedly to a collective performance —solo melodies turn into layered harmonies when done in sync.

“You can make music alone,” Mouna explained, “but if you cooperate with others, new melodies emerge.”

It’s a subtle invitation to notice who’s beside you, and to move together—literally and figuratively.

Giant Sing Along Presented annually at the Minnesota State Fair, this open-air karaoke field replaces stage and spotlight with microphones embedded in the ground. Singing in harmony with others–whether in a stadium, around a campfire or in a choir–is the expression of a shared emotion. Beyond beautiful voices, the pleasure comes from singing together. We were told people in Minnesota are too nice to participate,” Mouna joked. “But with the right tools, they did.”

Daydreamer Benches Designed for intergenerational use, these slow-moving rocking benches play ambient melodies and gentle muisc when users sway together.

“Synchronicity releases happy hormones,” Melissa shared, referencing neuroscience studies on cooperation and social bonding. “That magic moment when swings sync? That’s real.”

Conceived to create a ritual around a moment of pause in the urban realm, the artwork stimulates a communal experience in a soothing soundscape.

River Lines turns a public plaza in Cambridge, Ontario into the scene of an ongoing, open-air dance party, where light and sound respond playfully to every step. Designed as part of the Musical Pavements Series, the interactive surface is embedded with 62 light rings and sensors, transforming spontaneous movement into a shared musical performance. Installed in the courtyard of the Gaslight District, it invites passersby to co-create rhythm and motion in real time—no instruments or choreography required. By activating a long-overlooked waterfront with joy and participation, River Lines reimagines civic space as a site of everyday celebration.

Walk Walk Dance A playful response to the isolation of the pandemic, this installation uses ground graphics and sound to turn sidewalks into stages. As participants walk (or dance) across the path, different tracks and beats are triggered.

“The idea,” Melissa said, “is to turn moments of transition into moments of transformation.”

Lessons for Designers: Insights from the Field

For the Futurespaces community—designers, technologists, civic creatives—the talk offered more than inspiration. It revealed a practice grounded in experimentation, community engagement, and systems thinking. Here are some key insights to take home:

Design for emergence, not control. “We’re not choreographing outcomes,” Mouna noted. “We’re creating environments where something unexpected can happen.” The goal isn’t to script behavior, but to support agency.

Trust people to participate. Despite concerns around crowd control, the team rarely imposes strict rules. “People self-organize beautifully when given the chance,” Melissa said. “We’ve learned to trust that.”

Start with accessibility. A rotating saucer swing originally designed for children with disabilities became a hit with all users. “When you design for inclusion,” Mouna said, “it doesn’t limit joy—it multiplies it.”

Back it up with data. The studio is pioneering methods to quantify social impact—measuring not only use, but trust, belonging, and emotional response. “We’re trying to speak the language of ROI while staying true to our mission,” Mouna said. “Joy is not frivolous. It’s essential.”

What’s Next

Looking ahead, the team is exploring how their participatory approach might extend beyond cities. Two new projects, debuting this fall, will be set in forests—raising new questions about pace, scale, and more-than-human design.

They’re also inviting collaborators to participate in longitudinal studies that investigate the social value of shared joy. “We’re looking at how these moments might actually repair the social fabric,” said Melissa. “That’s the hypothesis we’re living into.”

How to Engage

Daily tous les jours’ installations can be found in cities across North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Their book, Strangers Need Strange Moments Together, is out and available for purchase.

To experience the work, support their ongoing research, or explore commissioning opportunities, visit dailytouslesjours.com.

Any press inquiries can be directed to Meggie Sullivan at BIGMESS: meggie@bigmess.biz.

Author’s Note

This article was produced by Futurespaces based on Mouna Andraos and Melissa Mongiat’s talk and our meeting notes. It’s part of our editorial series exploring creative reinvention, technology, and storytelling futures. Futurespaces is a community of experience designers and cultural thinkers exploring how innovation deepens connection—through weekly live webinars, behind-the-scenes tours, and curated insights into contemporary creative practice.