About

We are a hybrid cultural center serving the city, 
which transforms and is transformed by all the people who inhabit it.

A meeting and entertainment place. A place to dance and make noise.
A former train factory regenerated and returned to the local community.
Not a museum, not really a theater.
We are all these things together and much more.

We are a platform of collective imagination.
We have many functions, of space and thought. We believe in free and participatory culture.
We are able to generate the unexpected.

WHAT WE DO

Like a machine that learns and understands, plays and goes out of tune, we never stop: 365 days of experiments, voices out of the chourus, projects and events at the crossroads between the disciplines of art and contemporary creation.

WHERE WE ARE GOING

We want to be a (non) institution: a sounding board of voices and energies inside and outside the margins of what is defined as "culture". We listen, we take a step back if necessary, we welcome, we reinvent ourselves to ensure that BASE's voice truly tells the story we want: a plural, shared, collective story. From physical space to communication, from staff selection to the cultural program, we are guided by 4 cornerstones: inclusion, diversity, accessibility and equity. A continuous and constant commitment so that more and more people can feel foreseen.

OUR VISION

WHERE WE COME FROM

2014 — 2015

The municipality of Milan is promoting a tender for the redevelopment of the former Ansaldo factory, an industrial architecture building purchased in the 1990s, vacant land disputed between debates and projects. A group made up of Arci Milano, Avanzi, externali, H+, Make a cube (which will become OXA social enterprise), obtains the assignment of the spaces: this is where the story of BASE begins.  

2016 — 2018

There are those who, when faced with a 12,000m2 building, allow themselves to be captured by their imagination. After all, from large spaces come great ideas, but also responsibilities. It is in these years that BASE begins to take physical shape, and not only that: the bureau, the bar, the hostel, the first team nucleus, and the relationships with the institutions are born.

2019

The light in the tunnel: or rather, in the construction site. The staff is growing, the community of creative realities that live inside and outside BASE is expanding, the program and collaborations are enriched, increasingly and better in line with our values.

2020 — 2021

With the pandemic, everything closes, including BASE. We redefine and reprogram ourselves in response to changes, we open ourselves to new alliances and experiments: the residency program begins, In-Between, the artistic project that puts BASE in dialogue with the city, inaugurates, our productions are born (Farout, We Will Design, BASE factory) and the visual identity of the entire BASE is rethought.

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We are an experimental space for the world to come.

WITH WHOM?

Everything we do, we do it creating connections: we work closely with communities of artists and designers, national and international networks, individuals and collectives, institutional and cultural partners who help us broaden our perspective, adding voices, visions, vocations.

So... is this getting serious?

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