Pogon Mislavova is one of the two locations of Pogon – Zagreb’s independent culture and youth center (the other is located in the Trnje neighborhood near the river Sava, in the larger half of the former Jedinstvo factory – the smaller half is occupied by club Močvara).
Pogon is dedicated to the production, presentation and affirmation of contemporary independent artistic and cultural practices, as a reliable, high-quality service, as well as to the active participation of youth in cultural and other activities of Zagreb. The founders of Pogon are the joint organizations of Operacija Grad and Grad Zagreb, who started it in 2008 according to the then new model of public-civil partnership.
Amongst other things, Pogon deals with international cultural cooperation on a multitude of levels – by enabling artist exchange programs and residential stays in cooperation with prestigious European institutions, Akademie Schloss Solitude (Stuttgart) and Kunst Kraft Werk (Leipzig). Pogon is also one of the initiators of the Corners international project, which gathers artists and researchers from Europe’s outer rim and enables them to produce multidisciplinary artistic projects. Since it controls the Jedinstvo factory, Pogon is an associate member of the Trans Europe Halles network.
Pogon’s location in Mislavova, sporting a conference hall, and totaling an area of 120 m2, is used as a place to hold lectures, workshops, video screenings, presentations, rehearsals, round tables, and meetings of various organizations and initiatives, all of which fits Pogon’s policy of creating an audience and engaging the community in devising and producing contemporary, progressive culture. Cultural workers have been enabled to freely use Pogon’s venues – over 200 various public events pertaining to all domains of culture and art are held in them yearly, as well as more than 150 workshops and seminars. All of this puts Pogon in an unavoidable place in Zagreb’s everyday life.