Q1: Ložionica has quickly become more than a run-of-the-mill event venue. How would you describe its role within Belgrade’s cultural and creative ecosystem?
Ložionica is a recently established centre—we opened less than four months ago as the first centre for creative industries and innovation—but it has already grown far beyond a conventional event venue.
In this short period, we have welcomed over 30,000 visitors and hosted 153 events across 114 days, including international conferences and exhibitions, concerts, panels, workshops, and large-scale cultural programs. We are extremely encouraged by the feedback from our visitors and partners. This response clearly shows that Ložionica answers a genuine need within Belgrade’s cultural and creative ecosystem.
The space adapts seamlessly to events of different sizes, formats, and concepts, making it highly functional for organisers and engaging for audiences. Its distinctive architecture, accessibility, and carefully designed infrastructure allow creativity to unfold without technical or spatial limitations.
From spring onward, we are especially excited to activate an outdoor amphitheatre with a capacity of over 10,000 visitors, designed for remarkable cultural gatherings.
The location also plays a key role – set along the river, adjacent to Belgrade’s newest and most dynamic urban district, and surrounded by hotels and public spaces. From spring onward, we are especially excited to activate an outdoor amphitheatre with a capacity of over 10,000 visitors, designed for remarkable cultural gatherings, which will further bring Ložionica even closer to the city’s everyday life.
These events have already positioned Ložionica as a dynamic platform for contemporary culture and international exchange. Today, Ložionica functions as a living platform, not only hosting events but also actively shaping Belgrade’s creative pulse and contributing to its positioning as a contemporary, open, and innovation-driven city.
Q2: Many cities struggle to connect the events industry with local culture meaningfully. How does Ložionica bridge that gap in practice?
Ložionica bridges this gap naturally, as it was not created simply as a venue but as a community. It is deeply embedded in Belgrade’s local ecosystem of young professionals and companies working in creative industries, and it grew out of the long-term work of the “Serbia Creates” platform, established in 2017 within the Prime Minister’s Office. From the very beginning, the space has been shaped by the needs, ideas, and energy of the creative community itself. In practice, this means that many of the most compelling events at Ložionica are initiated and curated by local creative professionals and companies.
What also sets Ložionica apart from conventional venues is our curatorial approach. We work with our clients and partners to elevate their events with meaningful cultural content—whether through live music performances, contemporary dance, site-specific artistic interventions, exhibitions, workshops, or masterclasses.
Ložionica creates a space where business, culture, and education genuinely intersect.
This allows events to grow beyond their primary purpose and create a memorable experience rooted in the local cultural context. By connecting the events industry with artists, educators, and creative professionals, Ložionica creates a space where business, culture, and education genuinely intersect. This is how we ensure that events hosted here are not only successful, but they also actively engage and support the local creative community.
Q3: What does Ložionica offer to Belgrade that did not previously exist, not in terms of infrastructure, but in terms of mindset?
Our core idea is to deliberately erase the boundaries between art, technology, science, and business, and to treat creativity as a shared space rather than a series of separate disciplines. It is a platform that connects creatives and innovators, public institutions, and creative businesses, fostering mutual growth and inspiration.
A century ago, Ložionica was a key engine of the Second Industrial Revolution, servicing steam locomotives – the cutting-edge technology of its time. Today, that same space has been reimagined as a driver of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, centred around creativity, innovation, and knowledge. The dialogue between heritage and contemporary expression is essential to Ložionica’s identity. It is a place where history is not frozen in time, but actively shapes both the present and the future.
Q4: How has Belgrade itself influenced the way Ložionica programmes events, exhibitions and gatherings?
Belgrade has a profound influence on Ložionica. Serbia has an exceptionally dynamic creative industries sector, employing more than 190,000 professionals and contributing nearly 7% of Serbia’s GDP, with exports growing by 80% over the past six years. Belgrade is the major centre of all these activities.
In such a vibrant ecosystem, different types of gatherings take place on a regular basis – from large international conferences to regional and local events, as well as smaller, highly focused meetings within specific creative communities such as IT, fintech, medtech, visual arts, digital media, and the performing arts.
What Belgrade was missing was a high-quality, flexible space – capable of hosting the full spectrum of creative, cultural, and professional business events. Ložionica fills that gap and complements the city’s existing cultural infrastructure, offering a place that can adapt to different scales, formats, and creative needs. Basically, Ložionica responds to Belgrade’s rhythm, becoming a natural extension of the city’s cultural and creative life.
Q5: In the context of “The Belgrade You’ve Been Missing”, why was Ložionica a natural anchor point for re-imagining how business visitors experience the city?
Ložionica presents Belgrade as a city where creativity, innovation, and culture are not separate from business, but actively drive it. It offers an environment where ideas circulate freely, disciplines intersect, and meaningful connections form beyond formal meeting rooms.
It is not only a destination, but also a place of exchange and inspiration. In this sense, Ložionica does not simply host business visitors; it immerses them in Belgrade’s creative ecosystem, showing how the city’s cultural and intellectual capital actively fuels growth, innovation, and new perspectives.
“Ložionica responds to Belgrade’s rhythm, becoming a natural extension of the city’s cultural and creative life.”
Q6: You often work at the intersection of events, culture and creativity. Why do you believe this combination is becoming increasingly relevant for international audiences?
International audiences are no longer satisfied with generic experiences — they are seeking something meaningful, authentic, and memorable. Culture and creativity provide what cannot be replicated – individual expression.
While technology, AI, and digital tools are rapidly transforming how we communicate and produce content, they have also heightened our sensitivity to what is real. Audiences today recognise and deeply value authentic talent, original ideas, and true creative expression. We believe the future lies in integration – in bringing together businesses, culture, creativity, and technology to create holistic, emotionally powerful and engaging experiences.
Q7: Traditional business events tend to isolate participants from their surroundings. How does Ložionica seep into its surroundings and include the local community?
The city pulses through every corner of Ložionica and has been the primary inspiration behind how the space looks, functions, and evolves. It does not isolate participants from the city, but actively draws the city into what is happening inside.
Ložionica is a public space open to visitors and users every day. It has its own everyday life and tenants even when there are no specific events or conferences taking place.
Many of our programs are created with local artists and professionals, who are not just guests but active contributors — from performers and speakers to curators and mentors. Business events hosted here often naturally engage the local cultural scene through exhibitions, performances, talks, workshops, or informal public segments that invite broader participation. With open, flexible interiors and a large outdoor amphitheatre, Ložionica encourages movement, visibility, and interaction.
Ultimately, Ložionica engages the local community not as an audience but as a partner. Here, the city does not remain outside — it breathes, moves, and resonates in every corner. Ložionica is a public space open to visitors and users every day. It has its own everyday life and tenants even when there are no specific events or conferences taking place.
Q8: Ložionica embraces imperfection and industrial heritage. What kind of a dialogue does Ložionica aim to establish?
Ložionica is a living example of how historic industrial structures can be thoughtfully restored and reimagined to meet the needs of contemporary society. The architectural complex of Ložionica, developed by AKVS studio, a young Belgrade-based team, has already received five international awards, setting new standards in contemporary architectural practice in Serbia. Their concept is grounded in dialogue – between old and new, preserved and inserted, inherited and imagined – creating a space where history and contemporary life actively influence one another.
The dialogue extends beyond the building itself. Next to Ložionica now stands the newly built House of eGovernment, Serbia’s centre for digitalisation and public administration. Together, these two structures form a powerful symbolic and functional pairing: heritage and innovation, culture and technology, memory and progress, ongoing public and private dialogue.
Through this layered dialogue, Ložionica sends a clear message – that imperfection can be productive, that heritage can be future-oriented, and that the spaces which once powered industrial revolutions can once again become engines of transformation.
Q9: How do cultural programmes within Ložionica enhance the value of events without turning culture into a redundant add-on?
For us at Ložionica, culture is never an add-on – it is part of each event’s DNA. Cultural programs are integrated from the very beginning, shaping the atmosphere and rhythm of each event. This ensures that culture enhances experience, rather than serving as a “nice to have decoration”, while creating authentic value for both participants and the local creative community.
Q10: From your perspective, how does TBYB-BG benefit Belgrade beyond tourism in terms of visibility, confidence and know-how exchange?
TBYB-BG strengthens Belgrade’s international visibility while reinforcing confidence in its creative and professional capacities.
Beyond tourism, it enables meaningful exchange of knowledge, experience, and best practices, positioning the city as an open, capable, and forward – looking player in the global events and creative industries landscape.
Q11: Do you see Ložionica as a trailblazer for how revitalised, post-industrial spaces can contribute to the future of the events industry?
Absolutely. Ložionica demonstrates how revitalised post-industrial spaces can move beyond aesthetics and become active drivers of the future of the events industry.
By combining heritage, flexibility, and contemporary programming, it shows that such spaces can generate innovation, community engagement, and long-term value – not just host events, but shape new formats and mindsets. The fusion of industrial heritage and contemporary design, combined with exceptional spatial flexibility, state-of-the-art technical equipment, professional on-site support and an exclusive riverside location, positions Ložionica as one of the most distinctive and adaptable event spaces in the region.
Q12: As someone shaping both a place and a narrative for the city, what responsibility do you feel towards Belgrade when welcoming international guests?
I feel a strong responsibility to present Belgrade with confidence and clarity – as a city that stands alongside major European and global centres.
When welcoming international guests, we need to reveal our strengths: our creativity, professionalism, cultural depth, and openness. Belgrade offers world-class infrastructure, a dynamic creative economy, and a vibrant cultural scene, combined with a distinctive energy that cannot be replicated elsewhere.
Through Ložionica, we aim to demonstrate that Belgrade is ready to engage on an international level, without compromising its character and spirit. Our responsibility is to ensure that guests leave not surprised, but convinced that Belgrade belongs firmly among Europe’s and the world’s most relevant creative and professional destinations.
Q13: Conventa is one of the most established regional brands in the events industry. How important is it for Ložionica to host the first-ever TBYB by Conventa in Belgrade?
Hosting Conventa’s first-ever “Try Before You Buy” in Belgrade is extremely important to us, as we see ourselves as a natural partner to leading brands that connect the regional creative ecosystem with global players. At the regional level, we have helped establish a network of creative hubs and initiatives, while at the European level, we actively collaborate with institutions such as Centquatre in Paris and maintain strong partnerships with the UK, France, and Germany.
Within Ložionica, we also host the ARC (American Resource Centre), which facilitates direct connections with U.S. companies, startups, investors, and educational institutions. Our partnerships also extend to countries such as South Korea and China. Bringing TBYB to Belgrade for the first time is not only a recognition of the city’s growing relevance but also an opportunity to present Belgrade through a more creative lens. We are proud that Belgrade and Serbia are increasingly positioning themselves as a major hub for the congress industry, a trajectory that will be further strengthened by Expo 2027.
Few cities in the region, and even beyond, combine assets such as the Sava Centre – the largest convention centre in South East Europe, a new fairground and other EXPO-related infrastructure, a diverse hotel offering, and a rich cultural, gastronomic, and urban scene.
Within this broader ecosystem, Ložionica plays a distinct role. We complement large-scale congress and exhibition venues by offering a more intimate, creative, and content-driven environment – a place where business events can be elevated through culture, innovation, and authentic local engagement. With a large-scale outdoor area accommodating up to 10,000 visitors, a 619 m² multifunctional Black Box hall, multiple meeting and conference rooms, and a dedicated exhibition area, Ložionica offers a highly versatile infrastructure for events of all formats and scales.
About Ana Ilić
Ana Ilić is the Director of Ložionica, Serbia’s first hub for creative industries, and leads Serbia Creates, the national platform supporting and promoting the country’s creative, innovation-driven and knowledge-based economy internationally. She previously served as Senior Advisor for Creative Industries and Tourism to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia. Ana initiated the transformation of a historic railway depot into Ložionica, a landmark creative centre, and has led major national and international projects, including Serbia’s acclaimed presentation at EXPO 2020 Dubai and the Marina Abramović exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade. She is currently developing the London Creative Embassy, a pioneering platform showcasing Serbia as a contemporary, creative nation. Earlier, she founded and managed the Serbian Film Commission and was instrumental in establishing Serbia’s film incentive program. Ana was also part of the task force that established the Serbia Convention Bureau. She holds a BA degree in law.
Discover more about Ložionica here.
