KOOPERATIVA’S REG LAB SUPPORTS WORKSPACE INITIATIVE AT HEINZELOVA 66
02.07.2026.
The “We Need Workspaces” initiative held its first public gathering on Thursday, 18 June, at the former City Slaughterhouse complex at Heinzelova 66, making the case for why this long-neglected space would be well suited for a centre for cultural and artistic production. The programme was supported through Kooperativa’s Regional Laboratory for Cultural Action (RegLab).
The initiative, which brings together over 160 artists, cultural workers, and independent scene organisations in Zagreb, cited an internal survey showing that more than 85 percent of its members currently work in inadequate spaces. Speakers described a pattern of precarious, temporary, or informally arranged studios and production spaces across disciplines — from visual arts and photography to dance, literature, and design. Curator and set designer Tea Kantoci highlighted that Zagreb has only one city-owned space dedicated to dance, the Zagreb Dance Centre, meaning productions take place across a series of temporary and ill-suited venues. Writer Marko Pogačar pointed to the absence of basic working infrastructure for literature, noting that meetings regularly take place in cafés simply because there is nowhere else to go.
The discussion that followed, moderated by Filip Pračić, weighed both the potential and the obstacles the space presents. Sven Janovski from Operacija Grad, one of Kooperativa’s member organisations, noted that broad consensus already exists that the former slaughterhouse, given its spatial and functional characteristics, could become not only a site for cultural and artistic production, but also a testing ground for new, more participatory models of managing public cultural space, along the lines of self-governance models such as those at Pogon and Atelijeri Žitnjak. Architect Ana Boljar (Society of Architects Zagreb) noted that the urban planning and zoning foundations are in place, but that a systematic analysis of the space’s actual condition is lacking, pointing to the Arko-Badel block as an example of a site that has been “in development” for over a decade with little progress. She also announced a roundtable, “Forensics of the Slaughterhouse”, planned for September.
A representative of the City of Zagreb, Nataša Milutin Naglić, confirmed the City’s openness to cooperation, but noted that the space is bound by complex procedures set out in the General Urban Plan and conservation requirements, observing, in a lighter tone, that she was considerably outnumbered by artists in the room. Kornelija Mlinarević from the Zagreb City Development Agency outlined possible frameworks for developing the complex, including EU funding options, while noting the administrative complexity of such an undertaking.
Despite the goodwill expressed, the repurposing of the complex has been circulating through urban planning studies, strategic documents, and media coverage for years, without moving from the planning stage to implementation. The City of Zagreb had not responded to enquiries about concrete models for repurposing and managing the space at the time of publication. The organisers see this moment as an opportunity for the City to finally commit to a long-term cultural infrastructure project developed together with those who would actually use it, rather than another round of temporary solutions and deferred plans.