About Attack

Autonomous Cultural Centre – Attack! is an association of citizens that primarily works at the level of the City of Zagreb, but also conducts projects that take place or are being realized at the state level. Its aim is to encourage development and practice of alternative culture, thinking and expression. Attack! is a nonprofit, nongovernment volunteer association that creates and shares cultural and political alternative as well as alternative economy, providing a public space to all those who want to express themselves creatively and participate in changes on a local level that lead towards a free society.

STRUCTURE

Autonomous Cultural Centre – Attack! exists since 1997. under the name of Autonomous Cultural Factory. Because of the volume and for bettering the organization in the year 2001 Autonomous Cultural Factory divided into 2 NGOs with similar goals and ideas, but with greater inner autonomy. The principle motivation was to provide space for young people where they can express themselves in an authentic manner and to provide a space for activism. As a citizens association we do not function on the basis of hierarchy but we are divided into sections – teams, which function autonomously in regard to its field of interest. Our main executive body is an assembly, while the right to represent the association is in the hands of five members. The association has approximately fifty active members who are active in the production and creation of the programme and activities on a daily basis and approximately one hundred members who join periodically to give support.

AIMS AND ACTIVITIES

Aims of the association are:

  • encouraging and promoting all forms of alternative cultural production (music, theatre, art), and active care for the realization of cultural, social and other interests of citizens, especially the youth

  • protection of human rights and development of human freedoms; gender politics; contribution to the awakening of environmental consciousness and protection of the environment; protection of animal rights; supporting citizens initiatives and citizen rights to self-organize in the construction of autonomous civil society; rejecting violence and developing non violent methods; connecting and cooperating with similar civil, cultural and art organizations in Croatia and all around the world.

PRINCIPALS OF FUNCTIONING

  • Respecting differences in stances, ideas, opinions, encouraging freedom of choice,

  • respecting life, as well as national, gender, race, sexual, religious differences,

  • encouraging independence in work, publicity and democratic opinions, personal responsibility and organization in work.

HISTORY

Autonomous Cultural Centre – Attack! is open for all young artists representing their work in the public for the first time, with the aim of serving not only as a workshop but also as a place for representation of creativity and art to general public. Except the physical space Attack! also provides media coverage for young and unrecognised artists. The organization of activities is usually in collaboration with other youth associations and independent cultural centres from Croatia and abroad. In the year 2003, after losing an inadequate space in the Jedinstvo factory, we focused our activities on programmes in host associations and clubs such as Močvara, Studentski centar, Kset. Our efforts were recognized by the City of Zagreb in the year 2009 which then provided us with a venue (old abandoned factory Medika), and in that way finally enabled smooth operation for implementation of organization′s activities.

In the course of fifteen years, numerous projects have passed through Attack!, most notable are: Fade in, Amateur film – RAF, Underwater-Overground festival of underground trance culture, Libralibera, Ministry of psychedelic. Currently, our most important projects are: FAKI – Festival of Alternative Theatrical Expression, Hacklab01, Independent film studio Medika, Club Attack!, the production of an animated movie Waste Landscape… Through many years of work and organization of alternative and independent programme in the city of Zagreb, Autonomous Cultural Centre – Attack! became an indispensable factor of an independent, non-profit culture of the city.

The association is a member of Croatian Youth Network, one of the founders and an active member of initiatives Right to the City (Pravo na grad) and Alliance for the Centre for Independent Culture and Youth (Savez za centar za nezavisnu kulturu i mlade) – today Alliance Operation City, and it is also an active member and one of the founders of Clubture platform.

Programmes of cooperation with other independent culture associations in recent years:

  • as one of the members of Clubture platform and Croatian Youth Network we achieved a cooperation with other independent, youth and cultural organizations, where we held some workshops and carried out a part of the creative production of the organizational programme. Some of the associations and organizations with whom we cooperated throughout the years are: HUK – Knin; Spirit – Rijeka, Youth organisation Danube – Vukovar, Protest of the brain (Protest mozga) – Labin, Submedia – Zagreb, as well as a cooperation in the Free Spirit festival on Cres;

  • a cooperation with the Crossing Bridges organization in the production of performances and workshops with refugee children in Kosovo – 2006.,

  • a partnership with Magician′s Hat organization (Čarobnjakov šešir) on the Festival of Street Wizardry (Festival Uličnog Čarobnjaštva) in Pula – the concept is street theatre performances,

  • a collaboration in the organization of RAF – Review of Amateur Film with Postpesimisti ( Zagreb) and Mental Opposition imagined as a concept of amateur films in popular independent clubs of Zagreb: m.a.m.a, KSET, Student Centre, Attack!, Centre for Culture Trešnjevka – 2002 – 2004.,

  • on the Underwater – Overground festival (2003 – 2006) we collaborated with many organizations and independent collectives from Croatia and abroad such as: Stanipani kolektiv – Beograd (Srbija), Metamedia – Pula, Playground – Germany, HUK -Knin, Mars room – Pula, Seasplash – Pula, Magician′s Hat (Čarobnjakov šešir) – Pula

  • on the project Invisible Zagreb – Zagreb Cultural Capital of Europe 3000 – we cooperate with organizations significant for development of the independent culture in Zagreb: BLOK, Platforma 9.81, Multimedia Institute, Fade In, U.R.K, Center for Drama Arts, m.a.m.a (2004)

  • on the project OPERATION CITY 2005 – we collaborated with BLOK, Platform 9.81, initiative Zagreb Cultural Capital of Europe 3000, URK, Multimedia Institute

  • with organizations and alliances: Multimedia Institute, URK/Club Močvara, club m.a.m.a, Center for Drama Arts (CDU) and Croatian Youth Network we launched an initiative for resolving problems of independent culture and youth regarding the strategy in city policy called Right to the City 2006. In the year 2009 Right to the City became an independent organization which leads initiatives and campaigns directed against excessive economic exploitation of space and space management to the detriment of public interest and unsustainable spatial policy,

  • a cooperation and participation in the realization of Operation City programme : Jedinstvo 2007,

  • a cooperation with Seasplash and FUČ (Pula) festivals; Mine, Yours, Ours (Rijeka) in 2007.,

  • a cooperation with festivals Seasplash and FUČ (Pula) in 2008,

  • a coordination of venue AKC Medika 2009-2014,

  • a partnership with the Clubture platform on Clubture Forum 2009.-AKC Medika,

  • a partnership with the Operation City alliance on the project – Operation City: Open Spaces,

  • participants in several alternative multimedia festivals such us: Humphrey Bogart – Velika Gorica, Zadar snova -Zadar, Uštek_01 – Osijek, Festivalu Du monde aux Balkan -Toulouse, Grenoble 03…..

So far we have established many international contacts and cooperations on multiple levels. Since 1997 we have the observer status in the Trans Europe Halle, a pan-European network of 26 independent alternative cultural centres. In the year 1998 we became a network member of the European Youth for Action. Also, we have presented Attack at international conferences: Next 5 Minutes- Amsterdam, OPEN IINSTITUTIONS in Zagreb 2011, A Public open space in Belgrade in 2011 and at international conferences in Vienna, Barcelona, Zurich, Vienna, Ljubljana, Dijon, Toulouse, Belgrade, Mostar, where we have established significant contacts for future cooperations on an international level.

The activity of the association is mostly based on volunteer work, which is rewarded with occasional fees, but since recently there is also few people employed in the association.

Attack! was forced to work without its own space for six years, and at the time the lack of space for incubation of new ideas, projects and creativity of subcultural groups became evident.

After six years without the space, in the beginning of 2009 the city of Zagreb gave us space in old abandoned factory Medika. Just within few months of active work, AKC Medika became a gathering place for many members of subcultural and independent scene, artists and activists.