Love of the Road and Memories in the Water: Affects in Infrastructural Spaces in Gorski Kotar

Abstract

The article presents various ways of transformation of infrastructural spaces in the region of Gorski Kotar (Croatia) into a symbolic place, through affects of the local population. The research is conducted within the context of the Lujzijana road, dating from the beginning of the 19th century, connecting the cities of Rijeka and Karlovac, and a dam with its vast artificial lake, built in the 1950s in the village of Lokve. Certain events, scenes, situations, narratives, practices and reactions as generators and consequences of affects are used as a base for the analysis. The study shows that people experience different kinds of affects in relation to both physical features of infrastructure and its influences, which are then expressed through literature, in plain conversations, through individual practice and organized activities. While the Lujzijana road, as an instance of cultural heritage, provokes feelings of love and respect, the dam and the lake create a hybrid place composed of joyous memories related to the time of the construction of the dam, as well as sad memories of the lost villages, flooded by the lake.

Keywords: affect, infrastructure, place-making, Gorski Kotar