Urban Stage: Assembly
A shared space for assemblies, collaboration and the future development of ZK/U.
2026–2028
The Urban Stage has been an ongoing spatial and programmatic experiment at ZK/U since 2021. Across four consecutive iterations, it has developed in parallel with the transformation of the building: from a temporary, scaled-down version of the future rooftop terrace on the forecourt, through the first activation of the new roof, to a permanently expanding infrastructure for artistic production, neighbourhood encounters and collective assemblies. The Urban Stage is not conceived as a finished piece of architecture, but as a living lab that is continuously developed through use, experimentation and collective appropriation. Artists, designers, urban researchers, local initiatives and neighbours test new forms of gathering, climate adaptation, urban ecology and public cultural production here. Each phase draws on the experiences, materials and relationships of the previous one and translates them into a new spatial constellation: Construction Explained, Commons Cosmodrome, The View and Assembly thus mark four moments within an open-ended process of transformation.
From 2026 onwards, the Urban Stage enters its fourth iteration: Assembly. Building on the spatial experiments, ecological infrastructures and neighbourhood relationships developed during the previous phases, the rooftop will increasingly become a place for collective decision-making, long-term cooperation and shared responsibility.
Assembly understands gathering not simply as bringing people together for an event, but as an ongoing civic and cultural practice. The roof will provide a flexible infrastructure for discussions, workshops, artistic formats, meals, festivals and forms of collaborative production. Rather than separating audience, organisers, artists and neighbours, the spatial arrangement will encourage different participants to contribute to how the place is used and developed.
This phase is also connected to the formation of a broader ZK/U Circle of Friends: a network of people and organisations who accompany the institution, share knowledge and resources, and help shape its future. The Urban Stage becomes a physical meeting point for this extended community—a space in which support is not understood only financially, but also as participation, exchange, care and collective imagination.
Scene Design and production: Miodrag Kuč, ZK/U
Architecture and construction: Jan Körbes, reFUNC; Andrew Wu; Alessandro Baroni
Selected projects: EMCCINNO, GÜTERMARKT, mowe Festival, THE VIEW event series
Funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement n° 101178706. The project falls under Cluster 2 "Culture, Creativity and Inclusive society", call HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-01-02 "Cultural and creative industries for a sustainable climate transition" of Work Programme 2023-24. CORDIS project page: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101178706